Defiance in Spite Of
by googlegravity
Summary: Hiccup's a boy from Berk who never quite felt the same. Snotlout's his cousin, who hides a dark secret. Astrid's a shield-maiden hopeful. One day, a Night Fury is shot down by accident, and Hiccup, Snotlout, and Astrid's lives take a turn that is nothing short of insane.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train your Dragon in any way, shape or form.**

 **Trigger warning: There will be instances of abuse throughout the fic.**

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"Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak." -Thomas Carlyle

Permanence. Being unchanging through the times. Perseverance. Working at something, despite of difficulty. Persistence. Keeping at something, no matter the opposition. These alliterate traits, though slightly changing, gives us the definition of the strong. When you don't change who you are when faced with obstacles, the discouragements, and the impossibilities, but work diligently, and fight to keep going, no matter how hard it is. This is what defines the Strong Souls.

Strong Souls are never born, but rather made. As the time and the difficulties weather them, we see who they are made to be. Some crack, others break completely, but the strong ones are those who overcome. No matter what the world throws at them, they'll regain themselves.

The Strong Souls are defiant, and in a way, spiteful. The world wants to break them, but the Strong Souls don't want to be broken. The world chips away at them, but they only become a more refined piece because of this. The Strong Souls take the bad, and allow it to be good. Why look for the silver lining in the clouds, when there is gold to be found on the ground?

So here are the Strong Souls. The Heroes that have earned it. The Rebels with a cause. Here are those who are Defiant in Spite Of.

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 **AN: So, this is the rewrite of my previous fic, Cousins. The story line changes from what I had written previously, and I hope it's for the better. Let me know what you think!**

 **And don't worry, Hiccup, Snotlout, and Astrid will be showing up in the next chapter.**


	2. Part 1 - Chapter 1

**AN: So, here is the next chapter! I got a comment about this on the prologue, and I figured I should answer it in case anyone else was wondering: there will be domestic abuse in this fanfic. I'll put a warning in the chapters that go into more detail about it.**

 **Also, flashback scenes will be in** _ **italics.**_

 **Enjoy!**

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Part 1 – Permanence

"I cannot be broken. I cannot be killed. I cannot fail. This is my identity. This is my core. I am infinite. I am permanent. I am unbreakable."

-Vironika Tugaleva, The Love Mindset: An Unconventional Guide to Healing and Happiness

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Fire. Fire consuming many of the houses of Berk. That was how Snotlout Jorgenson woke up for many of the mornings of his life, so of course today wasn't all that special. Destruction, injuries, having to kill dragons to keep yourself, your tribe, and your food safe. Pretty run-of-the-mill stuff.

Snotlout was clumsily pulling on his boots while simultaneously hopping down the stairs from his upstairs room as his father was about to leave the house.

"You've got to be faster than that, boy," Spitelout snarled, picking up his battle axe.

Snotlout gulped at the sight of the axe, the blade having been freshly sharpened. "Yeah, yeah, I know." He hopped down the final stair, both boots fully on, and stared longingly at his bludgeon. "You know, I would be in much more of a hurry to get outside if I could be on the main defence team with you," Snotlout said, wistfully.

Spitelout narrowed his eyes at the boy. "We've been over this, no one starts out at the top. If you want to fight dragons, you must earn it. Training first. Now get on your way, houses are burning out there."

Snotlout sighed, though he made a note not to sigh too loudly. He'd been given the lecture about working for his position several times, and he could tell his father's patience was growing thin. Snotlout picked up his bucket, and left the house, narrowly missing the door being slammed on his face. Spitelout was already out of sight by the time Snotlout regained himself, and so the son took his time meeting with the bucket brigade, because for Thor's sake, why do these attacks always have to happen before sunrise?

Snotlout was walking towards the largest house fire, when his younger cousin Hiccup ran past. Snotlout grabbed the smaller boy by his shoulder, stopping him. "Where are you going so fast? You know your father doesn't like you being out here during all this."

At hearing about his father, Hiccup quickly checked around to make sure the mighty Stoick the Vast wasn't around. Snotlout wasn't often right, but even Hiccup had to admit that Stoick would have his head if he knew his son wasn't inside, quietly avoiding the danger. "I know, I know," Hiccup hurriedly admitted, after he came to the conclusion that coast was clear for now, "But I figured I should help out in the forge. You know how Gobber gets when he starts to fall behind."

Snotlout shuddered, thinking of the blacksmith's last episode, in which the man yelled at the entire tribe for not taking care of their weapons, and no one giving a thought about how they would be repaired, and in such a short time frame. "True. Oh! Are you gonna be working on the thingy?"

"The what?"

Snotlout gave an exasperated sigh, "I don't know what you're calling it! The throwing-bola-canon-thingy."

"The Mangler?" asked Hiccup, annoyed that his cousin didn't remember the name, despite it being the only thing he would talk about for the past week.

"Yeah, that! Are you gonna?"

Hiccup wanted to explain that he was going to the forge to concentrate on helping Gobber, and gain some experience, but the temptation of the new invention won out, and he slipped out a smile. "I'm almost done," he admitted.

"Really?" Snotlout asked, slapping his cousins arm affectionately, "I call dibs on testing it!"

Hiccup was about to argue when- "Hey!"

The boys jumped, quickly turning around to face the loud voice.

"What are you doing outside?" Stoick loudly asked Hiccup, and then turned to his nephew, "Get to work."

"Yes, sir. Bye, Hiccup," Snotlout squeaked before running off.

Stoick turned back to his son, "I thought I told you to stay inside during the raids!"

"You did!" Hiccup piped, "but I figured I should help Gobber out in the forge! Do you want him going off on another rant?"

Stoick grimaced at the thought, "Good idea." Hiccup sighed in relief. "Well," Stoick continued, expectantly, "get to it!" Hiccup nodded, and ran off to the smith shop.

"Since when have you been helping out during the raids?" Gobber questioned upon Hiccup's arrival.

"I was going stir-crazy inside," Hiccup explained, tying on the brown apron he wore in the forge, "and I thought you might like an extra pair of hands."

Gobber sighed dramatically, "Alas, one hand has just not proven to be enough." Hiccup laughed. He always wondered how Gobber was able to make jokes about his missing appendages. But then again, many Vikings are missing more limbs than just an arm and a leg, and Gobber's injuries never kept him from working.

"How do you even manage to split an axe in two?" Gobber grumbled to himself, heating the battered weapon.

 _Of course, working isn't always the best to keep morals high_ , Hiccup thought with a grin.

Gobber turned to face his apprentice, "What are you doing, standing around there?" He tossed a sword dangerously close to Hiccup's head, "Sharpen. Now."

Hiccup brought the dull blade over to the stone sharpening wheel. He heaved it on, and grimaced as sparks began flying towards his face. He couldn't help but imagine how many dragons would be beheaded by this sword, if wielded by the right person. Once the sword was sharp enough, he dropped it onto the pick-up counter, where an eager Viking ran off with it, towards a near-by Zippleback. Hiccup watched the scene uncomfortably. The Zippleback backed away, dropping the sheep it had in it's mouth. He had to look away as the Viking plunged the sword into the left neck. Hiccup heard the faint sounds of the sword being ripped out, blooding squirting all over, and the Viking yelling loudly as it plunged the sword in again.

A nearby explosion forced Hiccup out of his state, and he couldn't help but watch the bucket brigade. It was made up of five soon-to-be Vikings, all his age. They threw the buckets of water with ease, extinguishing some of the flames before a Gronkle flew in and re-started it, landing behind the house.

The teens ran by Hiccup, and he couldn't help but be jealous. These were all people he grew up with, and they already were having a way cooler life than him. There were the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who could frequently be found blowing stuff up. Of course they would get a high position in the tribe, and the respect that would come with. Fishlegs was bulky, and knew quite a lot about dragons, as far as Hiccup could tell. He wouldn't be surprised if Fishlegs ended up becoming an advisor. Snotlout was strong, always had been. He would definitely become one of the more respected warriors of the tribe. And Astrid – Hiccup didn't even know where to begin with Astrid. She had it all: strength, status, and many adoring fans already. Hiccup being one of them.

The hiss of Gobber quenching the axe he had been working on gained Hiccup's attention. He ran over to the pile of broken or dulled weapons, picking up a dented spear, and returning to his work. Hiccup wondered if anyone would say anything great about him.

Meanwhile, Snotlout was throwing _another_ bucket at the still roaring fire on the Larson's house. He sneaked a glance behind him, watching some older Vikings spearing a Nadder. He sighed, wishing more than anything that he was there. He looked back at the fire. The other teens were rushing back and forth with their buckets, slowly making a dent on the flames. He quietly slipped away – they've got it handled.

* * *

 _Snotlout had on the widest grin Eira and Spitelout had ever seen. It was his fifth Snoggletog, and they had just returned from the annual feast when Spitelout had gifted him with his very first mace. Snotlout promised he would train hard everyday, and become the strongest Viking Berk had ever seen._

" _After you, daddy, of course!" Snotlout peeped, thanking Spitelout again, and hugging his leg._

 _Spitelout crouched down, pulling his son into his arms, "Now, Snotlout," he explained, smiling as wide as the boy's, "Don't you worry about that. I think one day, you'll become the strongest in the world, even stronger than me, if you put your mind to it!"_

 _Snotlout beamed, hugging his father tightly, before running off to his mother._

" _Did you hear that, mommy?" Snotlout squealed, "One day, I'm gonna be stronger than daddy!"_

" _You sure are, Snottie!" Eira exclaimed, looking warily at the new weapon, "but I want you training with daddy before you use the mace, okay?"_

" _Okay, mommy," Snotlout said, yawning._

 _Eira picked up her little boy, "Should you go to bed now?"_

" _No!" Snotlout protested, though it was getting harder for him to keep his eyes open, "Rest is for the weak," he mumbled quietly, eliciting a laugh from his father._

" _Oh, but sleep isn't, my boy," Spitelout mumbled affectionately, kissing the young boy on the head._

 _And with that, Snotlout fell asleep._

* * *

Snotlout burst into the blacksmith shop through the back door. "Hey, little cuz!" he called, running towards Hiccup, nearly barreling into Gobber.

The older man grabbed Snotlout by his collar, lifting him half a foot or so off the ground. "What do you think you're doing? You've got a job to do!"

Snotlout flailed in Gobber's grip for a moment, before squirming free, and hitting the floor with a solid thud. He groaned for a moment, and then got up, "I know, I know, but things are taken care of at the moment." As he said the words, a Viking in the distance called out that there was another fire. "The rest of them can handle it," he explained quickly. Gobber shook his head tiredly, dismissing the young man.

Snotlout snuck behind Hiccup, giving him a slight shove to scare him. Hiccup fell forward, reaching out his hand to balance himself, right onto the heated spear. "Ah!" Hiccup screamed, recoiling quickly, and examining his hand, "Snotlout! How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me when I'm the forge? Or anywhere for that matter?"

Snotlout laughed, "I still don't get why. You'll be fine!"

"You're not supposed to touch hot metal!" Hiccup cried, slightly hysterically.

"I'm not, you are. You're a blacksmith for Thor's sake!"

"A blacksmith's _apprentice_ ," Hiccup corrected, grumbling, "And hot metal does, in fact, burn everyone."

Snotlout rolled his eyes. " _Anyways_ , I was here to check in on the Wrangler."

Hiccup supressed a sigh, "You mean the Mangler? It's not finished."

"But you said you were gonna work on it! Let me try it out!" Snotlout reached for the mechanism, but Hiccup defiantly stepped between the young man and the machine.

"It's not done, and it most certainly _not_ be tested during a raid! It's too dangerous!"

Snotlout gingerly moved Hiccup to the side, "Dangerous – psht. It's _supposed_ to kill dragons, of _course_ it will be dangerous."

Hiccup frowned, shoving himself back in front of Snotlout, "No, Snotlout, it's _supposed_ to stop the dragons from leaving with our food long enough for us to regain it, and secure our resources. Then, the dragon will be set free."

"And then killed."

Hiccup felt like banging his head against a wall, "No, then the dragon will be off on their merry way. I can't help but notice this, but statistically speaking, dragons who have been captured and then released are more likely to leave without a fight. It's as if they're showing a sign of respect for the Viking not killing them. We don't have to fight them!"

Snotlout stared at Hiccup expectantly for a moment. "Wait, so you're done now?" Hiccup nodded. "Okay, good, bye!" Snotlout leaped for the Mangler, and hurriedly pushed it out of the small forge, bumping into Gobber on the way. The older man pointed at the door that Snotlout had exited through, and turned to Hiccup expectantly.

"Yeah," Hiccup mumbled, untying his apron, "I'm on it, one second." He hung up his apron messily, and ran out the door.

Snotlout ran to the edge of the village, laughing to himself about how easy that was. _Hiccup didn't even see that coming!_ He thought happily. He stopped at the edge of a cliff, and pulling the machine open, and pulling the crossbow section into place. Snotlout looked around frantically, deciding which dragon he was going to shoot down, and if anyone who would report this to his father was around. He was choosing between a nearby Gronkle, or a further Zippleback when he heard the all-too-familiar whistle. "The Night Fury!" He quietly exclaims to himself. His father wouldn't even be mad at him for fighting dragons before training if it was a Night Fury he took down!

The Night Fury shot a watchtower not to far away, briefly illuminating itself. Snotlout squinted, trying to pinpoint the dragon's position. Once he was sure he was right, he aimed the launcher, and –

\- "What do you think you're doing?" In a moment of pure shock and confusion, Snotlout jumped around, but then realized it was only Hiccup.

"Gods, Hiccup," Snotlout muttered, turning back to the Mangler, "you almost gave me a heart attack!"

Hiccup angrily stomped over to Snotlout, pushing him out of his position in front of the machine. "Good!" He grumbled, "I told you, it's not done yet, and you're not going to test it out when it is!"

Snotlout narrowed his eyes, stepping back towards the Mangler, "Why not?"

Hiccup almost rolled his eyes, but refrained, remembering this is _Snotlout_ , of course, he's not know for his intellect. " _Because_ , you don't know how to fire it, and even if you did, I wouldn't let you-" Snotlout started to protest, but Hiccup cut him off, "-because I know you wouldn't use it for the intended purpose."

Snotlout did not refrain from rolling his eyes. "The intended purpose is for dragon combat, is it not? And how hard can it be to fire?" Snotlout pulled back the bola into position, and examined the different levers and buttons.

Hiccup swatted him away, and Snotlout shoved him to the ground. Snotlout used the extra seconds while Hiccup was getting up to pull a lever. "No, Snotlout!" Hiccup cried as Snotlout's hand fell on the next lever, which would fire the bola. He pushed his older cousin's hand away, effectively pushing down on the lever _just_ enough for it to fire. Within seconds, a pained screech filled the sky.

Snotlout and Hiccup stared at each other with wide eyes for a moment, speechless, before Snotlout broke the silence with the simple words, "So, not that hard, I guess."

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 **AN: In the next chapter – Toothless! Also, I'm going to try to post every Sunday, unless I say otherwise, and I am giving you guys permission to constantly pester me if I don't live up to that.**

 **You can follow me on Instagram at googlegravityfanfics, and please leave a comment, it really encourages me to continue writing!**


	3. Part 1 - Chapter 2

**AN: So, here's chapter two. A little shorter, but I hope you guys still like it.**

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"We have to go find it!" Snotlout cried, running towards the woods where the dragon came falling down.

"What?" Hiccup cried, grabbing his cousin by the shoulder, and turning him around to face each other, "No! Not right now! You have a job to do, and my dad thinks I'm with Gobber. We weren't supposed to do this!"

"But we can't just leave it there," Snotlout argued.

Hiccup had to agree – the idea of the dragon being tied up and left to die didn't quite sit well with him, "Okay, we'll go find it. But not until the raid is over."

Snotlout grinned, "Okay, _but_ I get to kill it then."

Hiccup stared at him for a moment, utterly speechless. Finally, he opened his mouth, "You're not serious, are you?"

Snotlout looked at his cousin in confusion, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because," Hiccup explained, feeling very much like he was talking to a five-year-old, "the point of the Mangler is to wait until the situation is dealt with, and then set the dragon free, and that's what we're going to do!"

Snotlout rolled his eyes, " _Sure_ , Hiccup, that's _exactly_ what we're going to do." Hiccup wanted to question this, but the older boy left before Hiccup had a chance.

Hiccup stared after Snotlout, unsure of what to do. Does he go after him, and make sure Snotlout won't do anything drastic? Or does he trust that he won't and go back to work? Or should he trust that Snotlout definitely will do something, and beat him to the dragon?

He looked over at the Mangler, wondering if he made some terrible mistake by creating this. _I just wanted to help without hurting anything,_ he thought to himself miserably. He sighed, and collapsed the canon back into it's place, closing the lids on top of it. He dejectedly wheeled the Mangler back to the forge, part of him wanting to destroy the machine, but another part of him still so proud of it. It was one of the first inventions he'd had that actually worked.

Hiccup smiled grimly, thinking about his first invention. In his mind, it worked perfectly. A simple belt, hooked up to some pulleys that were spun using some weights. It would help move dulled swords, knives, and other miscellaneous weapons over to the stone wheel to be sharpened, but in testing, it first didn't move at all. After several more attempts, it sure spun. One small dagger is still stuck in the opposite forge wall.

Hiccup pushed the Mangler into the back room of the forge, gaining Gobber's interest, "So, what happened?" Gobber asked lightly.

Hiccup turned to mentor, "I really don't want to talk about it."

Gobber picked up a final sword from the raid – Hiccup hadn't even noticed the dragons had all left by now, "Oh, it couldn't've been _that_ bad," Gobber joked, "pretty hard to top that time you nearly beheaded your father."

Hiccup cringed at the words. Why did he ever think that airing out boots manually was a problem worth solving? "Pretty hard, but not impossible," Hiccup mumbled.

"I can't believe it!" Gobber exclaimed, "You've gone an one-upped yourself! Now I owe Hoark a free axe."

"Only an axe?" Hiccup questioned, "I would've thought I was worth more than that!"

Gobber laughed…

…and continued laughing. Hiccup cocked an eyebrow at his mentor, who uncomfortably stopped, "Oh, you're being serious," Gobber mumbled.

Hiccup glared at the older man, smacking him on his round stomach, "I'll have you know I do _not_ appreciate that. Thank you for being so sympathetic to me in this trying time." Hiccup's expression shifted as he remembered the shriek of the Night Fury as it plummeted towards the forest.

"How bad was it?" Gobber asked, suddenly serious, picking up on Hiccup's change of mood.

Hiccup sighed before answering, "You know, it's probably fine. No one even knows."

* * *

"Waddya mean, you shot down a Night Fury?" Spitelout roared.

"I did, I really did!" Snotlout promised, "I swear, I'll prove it to you!"

Spitelout glared at his son, "I'm not one to take jokes, boy-o. You better prove it."

Snotlout nodded soberly, and ran off to the woods. For about an hour, he ran this way and that, desperately trying to remember where it would have landed. Finally, he came across a rough trench. Above it, a tree had been knocked down, with a few stray branches scattered around. Snotlout followed the trench up a small hill, and down below, behind a large boulder, he found it.

The dreaded Night Fury, all caught up in ropes, and it seemed to be hardly moving. He grinned, crept down the steep hill and reached for his –

"You've got to be kidding me," Snotlout muttered to himself, patting his pockets, and checking around him, "Did I really – ugh!" Out of frustration, he kicked the boulder, ignoring the pain in his foot. He punched the rock as well, as if it made any difference. He took a moment, regained his thoughts, breathing deeply, it was time for him to go back and get his bludgeon. He'd have to avoid his father, but at least he could eventually prove to Spitelout that he was, in fact, right about the Night Fury.

He shook his head, still quite angry with himself, and jogged in the general direction of the village, trying to keep track of anything that stuck out to him for a quicker way back.

He was just exiting the woods when he bumped into his younger cousin.

"Hey, where's the fire?" Hiccup asked, "Actually, that wasn't even a good joke. There probably is fire." He went on his toes, looking over Snotlout's head, "Is there one? Where?"

Snotlout looked over Hiccup's shoulder, checking to see if his father was anywhere near, "No, there isn't, I, uh, I forgot my bludgeon," Snotlout muttered absentmindedly, looking over his shoulder, and then running off without any warning.

Hiccup watched his cousin run away in confusion. He hoped that Snotlout didn't need the bludgeon for what Hiccup thought he needed it for, but whether it was true or not, Hiccup decided to investigate for himself. He ran in the direction Snotlout had came from, looking around for any path Snotlout may have made to lead him to where the dragon may or may not be. _He could just be training,_ Hiccup told himself. _Maybe he was lying, maybe there_ was _a fire._ It wasn't long before he came across the trench, _This doesn't mean anything,_ Hiccup assured himself. He climbed up the slight hill and –

 _-I don't think he was training._

Hiccup stumbled down the hill, bumping into the boulder. He cautiously peeked his head around, inspecting the tied up Night Fury. _Is it dead? Why would Snotlout need his bludgeon if it's dead?_ He slowly moved out from behind the boulder, easing his way over to the downed dragon.

* * *

" _Such beautiful creatures," a familiar feminine voice drawled, "so gentle, graceful, and so sophisticated." The women sighed, "Oh, I wish they would stop with the fighting. Don't they see it only makes things worse?_

" _Hiccup, they don't deserve the pain we put them through."_

* * *

Hiccup took breath. He looked around, though he knew the voice didn't come from anything physically near him. He wondered whose voice that was, and why did he only remember it now?

He looked over at the Night Fury, really looking at it now. He noticed the soft edges of the ears, and the great curves of the wings. Without thinking, he reached out to touch one of the forelegs. The moment his hand and the leg met, the whole dragon jerked awake. Startled, Hiccup jumped backwards, thumping into the boulder.

He felt his heart rate rising, it's not dead, was all he could think, _it's not dead, it's not dead, it's not dead._ The Night Fury opened it's eyes, and it seemed to be staring directly into Hiccup's soul. Hiccup was unnerved by this, but yet he couldn't stop himself from drawing nearer to the dragon. Hiccup cocked his head inquisitively at the Night Fury, taking in the sight of the beast, made helpless by the ropes. "I did this," Hiccup breathed, shaking his head with guilt, "I did this," he repeated, the words meaning more to him a second time.

The Night Fury continued to stare at him, and Hiccup looked back, trying to communicate how sorry he was. But then he remembered the knife in his pocket. _Could he really do it?_ Hiccup could think of a million ways this could go wrong – starting with Snotlout finding him, or the dragon killing him – but looking into the Night Fury's eyes, he couldn't stop himself.

He cut the ropes.

As soon as the dragon is freed from it's bondage, it pounces on Hiccup, opening it's mouth wide, and Hiccup realizes this is his end. The dragon roars terrible roar – more a scream than anything – and Hiccup has to admit, he feels like screaming at himself too.

But then the dragon stops, and it flies away. Hiccup gets up unsteadily, happily thinking to himself, _he was just thanking me_ , before his knees gave way, and everything went black.

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 **AN: So there it was. Please leave a comment, it encourages me to keep writing, and you can also check out my instagram, googlegravityfanfics there, I post HTTYD memes whenever I update, or have something to announce. So, if you like memes from this fandom, then that's something you should check out.**


	4. Part 1 - Chapter 3

**AN: So here's the late chapter three! Computer's all good now, and I'm hoping not to have to miss a week like that again.**

 **I got a Guest comment on chapter 2, saying, "Could you please answer the question as to whether or not there will be Hiccstrid?" I'm gonna be a little rant-y, but I didn't like the comment. For one, it wasn't posted under an account, so I can't PM them (which is the only way I would reply to a comment) and also, why do people ask questions about the future of a story? Can you not wait? I'd understand if I had announced that I was killing the fic, but... ?**

 **To answer the question, yes, there will be Hiccstrid, but there is also a reason why this fic was not categorized as, "romance."**

 **And, sorry guys, but the time has come. This is the first chapter involving domestic abuse. You have been trigger-warned.**

Snotlout ran his fingers over the familiar dents and notches in the handle of his bludgeon, preparing himself for the battle he would soon have with the Night Fury. The closer he got to where he had found the dragon, the more he agreed with his father – he needed to train – but he tried as much as could to stop those thoughts.

"I have to prove him wrong," he huffed scaling a hill. From the top he caught a glimpse of where the Night Fury was.

Was.

Was he imagining things, or was the Night Fury actually gone? He ran down the hill, and into the trench, darting over the second hill. He slid down as quietly as he could, in case the beast was still there. He backed against the boulder, gathering his thoughts. _If the Night Fury is there, I start my attack before it even notices me._ He briefly considered untying it to have a fair fight, but he figured that with the dragon defenceless, and him with no formal training… it was probably fine. _And if it's not there… No, it has to be. I can't afford for it to be gone._ He took a deep breath, and jumped around the boulder, ready to attack.

But the Night Fury wasn't there. Rage boiled up inside of Snotlout, and he angrily threw down bludgeon watching it bounce over to –

"–Hiccup?"

The older boy stomped over to his unconscious cousin, inspecting him for a moment. Coming to the conclusion that he should probably wake up Hiccup, he leaned forward, and gently, but firmly, slapped the boy in the face.

Hiccup jumped to life, "Ow! What the heck?"

Snotlout straightened up, bolting upright, crossing his arms across his chest. "Why are you taking a nap in the woods? And where did the Night Fury go?"

Hiccup looked down at his knees, trying to think of an excuse, "I, uh, well, you see-"

"Hiccup, are you hiding something?" Snotlout interrupted.

"Uh, yes," Hiccup said slowly, getting up. Snotlout begrudgingly held out his hand to help him. "See, when you came running out of the woods earlier, I thought you had found the Night Fury – and you did – and, well, I guess my curiosity got the best of me, 'cause I really wanted to go look at it – not kill it, no I knew you wanted to do that – so I ran over here, and I saw it, I think you would call it 'bad-ass,' right?" Snotlout found himself smirking, despite how angry he was. "So, yeah, I looked at it, and I – I dunno what I was even thinking, but, I went up close to it, and then it opened it's eyes and it saw me, and it just," he paused for a breath, "it just went berserk, and I mean _berserk_ , like, Dagur would be envious. It broke out of the ropes, and hit me in the head at the same time, and that's," he faked a sigh, "that's all I saw. I'm sorry, I know you wanted it."

Snotlout huffed, still angry, but not at Hiccup, "I really did," he muttered, "any idea where it went?"

Hiccup shrugged sympathetically. "It'll be fine, right? I mean, now you can kill your first dragon in front of the whole tribe!" He tried not to cringe at the words. Hiccup wasn't quite sure if he succeeded or not, but Snotlout didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, I guess. But a Night Fury is a lot cooler."

"Bad-ass," Hiccup corrected.

"Yeah," Snotlout agreed, "bad-ass."

"Now who's with me?" Stoick's words echoed through the Great Hall. Despite the tribal meeting being packed, there was not a word to be heard.

"Alright," Spitelout called out, "whoever stays behind watches Hiccup."

Stoick watched in disappointed amazement as every single hand shot into the air, offering to go on the expedition to Dragon Island. He dismissed them wordlessly, and grabbed himself a mug of ale. He hadn't sat down two seconds before his brother sidled up beside him.

"He's such a problem, Stoick," Spitelout explained, "Just this morning, he was distracting my boy from his work. Now I know that Hiccup is a runt and all," Stoick rolled his eyes, already knowing where this was going. "So I understand if you're not concerned about any advancement in his future-"

"Here we go," Stoick mumbled to himself.

"-but my Snotlout has the capacity to be something great! That Hiccup boy is preventing him from improving. They should be separated."

"Spitelout we've been over this," Stoick sighed, _hundreds and hundreds of times_ , he added silently, "Snotlout is a good influence for Hiccup. He needs a Viking-like person his age for him to model."

"It's a lost cause!" Spitelout blurted, "And you know it! Why don't you make Snotlout heir already?"

"Spitelout-"

"Everyone's counting on it Stoick!"

Stoick took a deep breath, regaining his composure, "I'm calling your bluff on that one, Spitelout. Hiccup will remain heir, and that's final." Satisfied, he took a swig of ale.

"An heir should be able to fight a dragon," Spitelout commented, as if to himself.

It took everything in him to keep Stoick from spitting out his drink. Quickly swallowing, he argued, "Snotlout hasn't fought any dragons either," though he knew the debate was going downhill.

Spitelout smirked, "Ah, but there's no doubt that Snotlout _will_. Top of his class, some are saying. But Hiccup? Oh no, we all know that Hiccup could never kill a dragon."

It was at this point that Gobber decided to step forward from the sidelines. He cleared his throat, making his presence known, before adding, "He could if he was put in training with the others."

Spitelout guffawed, "Oh, he'd be killed before you let the first dragon out of it's cage."

Gobber glared at the Jorgenson, "He wouldn't actually," he tried to argue further, but that plan did not coincide with that of Spitelout.

"Yes, he would! Oh, I can see it now-" but he didn't get to finish.

Gobber placed his hand over the mans face, and pushed, sending Spitelout flying backwards. He turned to his friend, "Put him in training with the others."

Stoick looked over at his younger brother, recovering on the stone floor a few feet away. Then, he looked down, ashamed. "As much as I hate to admit it, Spitelout is right."

Gobber shook his head, not going to take no for an answer, "You can't protect him, Stoick. You won't always be around. You can only prepare him."

Stoick weighed his options, and began to smile. "It's a deal. Hiccup will be in training tomorrow." The two brothers locked eyes, the younger glaring as the older smirked.

 _Snotlout grunted as he thrusted his mace into a nearby tree. He heaved it out, slightly losing his balance, but he recovered quickly._

" _You're going to have to do better than that, Snotlout!" Spitelout reprimanded, "An attacker would've seen that moment of weakness! In less than a second, you'd be on the ground."_

 _Snotlout sighed. He was eight now, and in his fathers words, "old enough to know better." It didn't matter what the topic at hand was, Snotlout should have known. He should have known that you must keep your balance at all times. He should have known that you can't just be good with one weapon. He should have known that you can't trust anyone without an alliance. He should've known to still be wary of allies._

 _Snotlout thought that this was a bit too much to know, but he figured he would remember it all someday._

" _Are you going to be like this when you're chief."_

" _But papa," Snotlout began, choosing his words carefully – he knew that Spitelout had different reactions for different words, and he didn't like Spitelout's yell-y reaction, "Why can't Hiccup be the chief? Stoick said he's, 'the first in nine.'"_

" _First in_ line _," Spitelout corrected, "and you remember, don't you?"_

 _That was the newest thing to remember. "That the heir isn't always the chiefs son," Snotlout recited obediently._

" _Right, and don't you want to be the chief?"_

 _Snotlout thought about this for a moment, "Not right now," he decided._

 _Spitelout chuckled, "Yes, of course. But someday. Now, resume your training."_

 _Snotlout nodded, and continued his orders, being extra sure to stay balanced. But he couldn't help wondering why Hiccup can't be the chief._

 _Snotlout ran up to Hiccup after his training that day, and quickly told him what his father said._

 _Hiccup frowned, "but my dad says that_ I'm _gonna be the chief. Not you!"_

" _That's what my dad says!" Snotlout exclaimed._

 _Hiccup giggled, "You already said that."_

" _Right," Snotlout grinned, "I don't know why he thinks I'm gonna be chief though. He's not!"_

 _Hiccup stroked his chin like he saw his dad do when he was confused, "I'll ask my dad about it tonight."_

 _Snotlout nodded, and waved good-bye. Hiccup reciprocated, and ran towards his house._

" _Da-ad," Hiccup sang during their dinner._

" _Yes?" Stoick asked, looking up from his chicken._

" _Snotlout said that Uncle Spitelout said that Snotlout was going to be the chief and not me." Hiccup took another bite of his bread._

" _Spitelout shouldn't have said that, you're the heir, Hiccup," Stoick replied._

" _I am?" Hiccup asked with his mouth full, "but why would Uncle Spitey say that Snotlout is?"_

 _Stoick sighed, "Snotlout is a few months older than you. I think Spitelout is jealous – do you know what, 'jealous,' means Hiccup?" Hiccup nodded. "Good. I think Uncle Spitelout is being jealous of you for Snotlout."_

 _Hiccup stared at his plate, thinking this over. Finally, he declared, "Uncle Spidey is weird."_

 _Weeks went on, and Snotlout was still regularly told by Spitelout that he was to be chief. Snotlout would tell this to Hiccup every time, and in turn, Hiccup would tell his father. Hiccup received the same answer from Stoick, though angrier and angrier each time. Hiccup didn't want his dad to be angry, so even though Snotlout still told him, Hiccup stopped telling Stoick about Spitelout's conversations with Snotlout._

Hiccup opened the slightly charred door to his house, entering quietly. He didn't feel like answering any of his father's questions about where he was today, seeing as he didn't want anyone knowing what he did. He still felt like what he had done was the right thing to do, but…

 _It's not the Viking way of doing things,_ Hiccup thought sadly to himself.

His dad was sitting in his chair, stoking the fire. _Maybe I can get upstairs quietly enough,_ Hiccup thought desperately. He started climbing the stairs silently, in his opinion, but his father sensed his presence.

"Hiccup," Stoick muttered, and Hiccup stepped down a step.

"Yes, dad?" He asked, hoping he didn't sound guilty of anything.

"You get your wish," Stoick gave a small smile, "You start dragon training tomorrow."

"What?" Hiccup asked, trying to keep his voice down.

Stoick gave a small laugh, "I know you weren't expecting it, but Gobber talked me into it."

Hiccup ran his hands through his hair, "when have I ever told you wanted to join dragon training?"

Stoick looked puzzled, "Are you saying you don't want to?"

Hiccup weighed his options. If he told his father that, yes, he actually hated the idea of learning how to kill dragon; he doesn't want to go near the kill ring, much less go inside of it, Stoick would be extremely disappointed. _He'd keep me locked inside during the attacks for sure._ But if he said, no, he wants to join training… he'd have to learn how to kill dragons, and he'd probably be the worst in class, and everyone would mock him – he'd be a laughing stock. Well, more than he is already.

Hiccup sighed, "You're right," he said carefully, "I wasn't expecting it."

Stoick grinned, and picked up the family axe, "You'll be needing this."

Hiccup stared at the axe, slightly horrified, knowing what the axe had done before, but slightly awed as he realized what it meant. He was a Viking now, or at least, he would be.

"That means you walk like us, talk like us," Stoick tapped him on the head, "you think like us." Hiccup shrank back, knowing he was already failing miserably at those tasks. Stoick picked up his bag, "I'll be back, probably."

Hiccup mustered up a smile and a nod. "And I'll be here," he waited for the door to close behind his father, "maybe."

"So boy, did you kill the Night Fury?" Spitelout sneered upon his son's entrance. Snotlout had tried to enter quietly, but he should have known that his father would be expecting him.

"It was tied up in the bolas, I saw it!" Snotlout begun explaining, trying to make himself sound as little at fault as possible, "I, uh, went to grab my bludgeon, you know give it a nice painful death, and uh, realized it was missing," he mumbled the last part as quietly as he could, but Spitelout still heard.

"You went to kill the Night Fury," his father mocked, "and you forgot your weapon?"

"It slipped my mind, okay?" Snotlout begged quickly, "When I got back it was gone."

Spitelout backed him into a wall, grabbing his collar in his fist, lifting him inches off the ground, "You let a Night Fury escape?" He growled, punching the boy in the face before he could block it, "Or are you lying?" He reared back to punch Snotlout again. The boy quickly held up his arms to block his face, and Spitelout punched him in the stomach. Spitelout dropped his son, "Get out of my sight," he muttered angrily, and Snotlout ran out, ducking his head to avoid eye contact.

" _How many times have I told you to stop hanging out with that Haddock rat?" Spitelout bellowed at his son._

" _I'm sorry, daddy! I didn't mean to!" Snotlout cried, tears flowing freely down his face._

" _I think you did mean to, even though I've told you countless times, he's making you weak!"_

 _Snotlout feebly pushed some tears off of his cheeks, "But mommy says I can play with h-him!"_

" _Don't you use your mother against me!" Spitelout yelled, pulling his arm back threateningly._

 _Right at that moment, Eira walked through the door, "Why is my name being used in an argument?" She stared at the two, the father ready to strike, as her son cowered in fear, tears streaking his face. "What is going on here?" She demanded to know._

 _Snotlout ran from his position, hugging his mother tightly. "Papa's yelling at me because he doesn't like Hiccup!" he cried into her side._

 _Eira rubbed her sons head comfortingly while glaring bullets at her husband, "I told you, it's good for them to be together."_

 _Spitelout dropped his fist and sighed, "I'm sorry, Eira, I don't know what got into me."_

" _You have to control your anger, Spite, you're scaring our son." She knelt down before Snotlout, "Snottie, daddy's sorry, aren't you dear?"_

 _Spitelout stepped forward to hug his son, but Snotlout recoiled, "I'm sorry, son, it won't happen again." Snotlout examined his father. He wasn't sure the apology was sincere, but he nodded in acceptance anyways, and ran up to his room._

" _Good-night, mommy," he called from the stop of the stairs. He closed the door before he was asked to say good-night to his father._

 **AN: How were the flashbacks? I usually won't do as many in a single chapter again, but with how I planned everything out, there just had to be a lot of flashbacks at the beginning.**

 **Leave a comment! I mean, not a guest one with a question about future events of the story, especially if you are expecting some sort of a response, but… All the other comments I really appreciate, okay? They really do *cough*remind*cough*** _ **encourage**_ **me to continue writing.**

 **Also, I post HTTYD memes on my Instagram, googlegravityfanfics You should check it out.**


	5. Part 1 - Chapter 4

**AN: Hey, I think you guys might like this one. Astrid comes in for some proper… air time? Screen time? What would you call this? I dunno.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

Hiccup walked over to the kill ring the next morning. He had gotten barely any sleep that night, thinking about what he had been signed up for. He really contemplated not going, but he figured that since Gobber already knew, he was in too deep. His complete exhaustion mixed with frustration and annoyance of the topic left him feeling apathetic. _Maybe this is just my fate,_ he thought to himself, resigned.

Snotlout had gotten sleep that night, though he wished he hadn't. Nightmares telling him of everything that could go wrong, and everything that would happen if he did anything wrong bombarded him all night. Despite the pain and terror he was going through, he could not wake up, forced to endure this cruel torture.

Astrid felt conflicted. A part of her was excited to show off all the years of training and knowledge she had, and was ready to learn more. Another part, though, was nervous. Will she be good enough? She knew that any mistake could take her down at any moment. She wasn't ready to fail. She knew that seemed a ridiculous thing to fear, seeing as no one is particularly comfortable with being wrong somehow, but she felt there was a lot of pressure on her. From who though, Astrid did not know.

Fishlegs was pretty much bursting at the seams with excitement. He knew reading the Book of Dragons as much as he did would pay off. He couldn't wait to ace the trivia portion, _there will be a trivia portion, right?_ Troubled for a moment, he considered this, but grinned when he remembered the great Book wouldn't be around if it weren't meant to be studied.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were, in their words, "pumped." Tuffnut couldn't shut up last night, happily going on and on about how many explosions they would see while training. Ruffnut made a bet with her brother that whoever walked out of the final test with the best scar would get their shared room for themselves. Tuffnut agreed to this quickly, but it was only now that they realized it would be hard to judge.

"I'm thinking size should be the determining factor," Ruffnut declared.

"I say 'nay' to that, sister," Tuffnut argued, "pain is the defining quality of any proper scar."

"Ah, true, my brother," Ruffnut countered, "but pain is difficult to measure, and on what scale?"

"I'd say on a Nadder scale," Tuffnut decided, "Those things shed like crazy."

Ruffnut kicked him in the shin, "Not _that_ type of scale! I meant, how is it measured? In intensity, or duration?"

Tuffnut paced as well as he could with one leg, "Good point. Perhaps we should bring in an impartial judge?"

Ruffnut scratched her chin, "Perhaps."

Gobber silently walked past them, and opened the gates to the ring without a word. The clang of the metal rang through the teens mind, and it was as if they all simultaneously realized the gravity of the situation.

 _What I'll learn here,_ Hiccup thought to himself, _may save my life._ He walked through the entrance, gazing at the faint blood stains on the cold rock. Memories of the deafening cheers during someone's final exam fill his head, _and if I do well-_ He didn't allow himself to think about it.

Snotlout put on a brave face, reminding himself why he's here. _This is what will make my life worth living._ He forced himself not to think about last night, or anything else. He would be a new man once he left training, one that deserved his fathers respect, and one that was much, much stronger.

Astrid was mute. Her excitement to learn and to show off her skills was wearing thin as she took in the scene before her. For years, she had watched the final exams from above. It was much more daunting inside. She forced herself to take a deep breath, to act normal, pretend to be the brave girl all of Berk knows her as. _Besides,_ she told herself with some grim humour, "There's no turning back."

Fishlegs found himself speechless, unable to share any of his dragon facts.

The twins quieted their bickering.

"I'm hope I get some serious burns," Tuffnut muttered, toying nervously with his spear.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like, on my shoulder, or lower back," Ruffnut blankly stated, imagining the creatures behind the doors.

Astrid nodded. She could seem cool and collected, like always, "Yeah, it's only cool if you get a scar out of it."

Hiccup shivered at the thought, and resorted to sarcasm, like he usually did, "yeah, pain. Love it."

The teens turned to look at Hiccup, having not noticed him earlier as they were lost in their thoughts (or arguments), surprised that Stoick actually let him show up. Astrid and Hiccup made eye contact for a moment, both wanting to say something, but both awkwardly looking away.

Snotlout perked up at the sight of his cousin. He walked up to the younger boy and slapped him on the back, "How long have you been keeping this a secret?"

Hiccup forced himself to seem excited, "I only found out last night. It was," he paused, searching for words, "unexpected."

Snotlout grinned, "This is great," and it was, but he felt concerned anyways, "That is, until you get eaten," he joked quietly.

Hiccup laughed, "Oh they wouldn't want me, no meat. You on the other hand…"

Snotlout laughed despite of himself, drawing attention to him. He waved awkwardly, and joined the others in a line in the middle of the ring.

Gobber came forward, announcing his presence with an all-too-exuberant, "Welcome to Dragon Training!" Hiccup was sure wasn't the only one who cringed at the very, _very_ loud words.

Gobber's presence did counterbalance the uneasy tone in the arena. Fishlegs even found his voice as Gobber introduced each of the dragons, easily rattling off different stats. Gobber easily felt annoyed at this. Gobber yelled at the large boy, and then Gobber introduced them to the Gronkle, pushing on the large lever, sending the door flying open.

All the recruit's eyes were wide open, and they had a communal oh-for-Thor's-sake-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into moment.

Hiccup watched the Gronkle in awe as it rammed into the stone wall, as they were going to break open, and it could escape.

Gobber called out instructions in the form of questions (which aggravated almost everyone) and the teens quickly followed the correct answers. Shields are more important than a weapon. Create noise to disorient the dragon. Six shot limit, one better not hit themselves.

The twins got shot arguing over a shield. One shot down, four teens to go.

Fishlegs got hit after answering a question. Two shots down, three teens to go.

The Gronkle fired at Hiccup, who was hiding behind a discarded barrier. Three shots left.

"Hey babe," Snotlout flirted seconds before disaster, "You should co-" Two shots left for the two teens left.

Astrid rolled to avoid the shot, landing herself nearby Hiccup. Again, they made eye contact, both undoubtedly remembering the same thing. Hiccup opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't find any words.

Unlike Hiccup's search for something to say, the Gronkle found what it was looking for.

One shot left, only Astrid still in the game. Hiccup however, was still in the arena, with no shield. The Gronkle came in on him, charging up for it's sixth and final shot. Hiccup blocked his face with his arms. He knew it wouldn't do any good in protecting him, but he didn't want a dragon's angry face, glaring at him in a way that only meant, "you're wrong," to him to be the last thing he sees.

No shots left.

"Go back to bed, you overgrown sausage," Gobber yelled, wrangling the dragon back into it's cage. Hiccup looked up, taking in the sight of his disappointed peers. He took a deep breath, and let it out with a big sigh. _Not the worst thing to see,_ he admitted sardonically.

"Remember," Gobber addressed the teens, "a dragon will always," he turned to Hiccup, " _always_ go for the kill."

Hiccup frantically nodded for a moment, but then he remembered the Night Fury screaming at him, and then flying away. He frowned, and ran towards the door.

Snotlout caught him by the arm, "Where's the fire?" He asked, stealing Hiccup's line from the previous day.

"That's not even a good joke, there probably is a fire," Hiccup finished hurriedly with a slight grin, "look, I have to go, something isn't adding up."

Snotlout nodded, knowing that Hiccup often thought compulsively about his inventions and the numbers for them. "You'll figure it out," he smiled.

"I hope so," Hiccup mumbled as he ran off.

It wasn't long before he came crashing down the hill and into the boulder by where he found the Night Fury the previous day. He slid to the ground, the air knocked out of him from the sudden impact. _"Remember, a dragon will always,_ always _go for the kill."_ He shook his head, standing up unsteadily. "That can't be right," Hiccup muttered to himself, "or I'd be dead." He walked around, trying to find any traces of the dragon. "Maybe it couldn't?" He thought aloud, "Could a dragon lose its firepower?" He saw some black dragon scales on the ground. He picked it, and the words he had heard yesterday rang through his head, _"Such beautiful creatures. So gentle, graceful, and so sophisticated."_ Hiccup stood up, looking around for anymore traces.

He came across a cove, completely surrounded by stone walls, similar to those of the arena. Unlike the kill ring, though, the cove was filled with life. The ground was green with soft-looking moss, and in the center of it all, was a huge pond. Some birds flew by, their song quiet, but not quite silenced by the distance. "Wow," Hiccup breathed, kneeling down, noticing more scales.

Out of no where, the Night Fury sprang up in front of him, and then fell back to the ground. Hiccup watched in confusion as the dragon repeated this once, then twice. Hiccup grabbed his notebook out of his vest pocket. Another failed attempt to get in the air, and Hiccup began drawing. He glanced at the dragon and then back at his drawing. He rubbed out the left tailfin.

"But that wouldn't prevent it from killing me," Hiccup began to mumble to himself before realizing, he did this.

" _Hiccup, they don't deserve the pain we put them through."_

The words hit a foul note in him. He sets down his notebook and charcoal, running his hands through his hair. "I should have never made the Mangler," he groaned.

 _Ting._

Hiccup bolted upright, and, as he noticed, so did the Night Fury. They made eye contact. Hiccup stared in awe, but the eyes turned into something different. The expression is the same, one of wonder and amazement, but the eyes somehow feel like the belong to a different dragon.

Hiccup can't shake the thought that he's seen those eyes before, but more than that, he feels that he never should have.

 **AN:** **I know, I know, it's very similar to the actual movie. Hopefully I strayed far enough from the real deal not to get stoned or something.**

 **Also, if you picked up on the tension between Hiccup and Astrid, then I can assure you, you are not imagining things. You'll have answers within two or so chapters, do not fret.**

 **Anyways, what did you guys think? There were no flashbacks, is that okay? And did I do okay with giving the training scene a different tone?**


	6. Part 1 - Chapter 5

**AN: So, here's the fifth chapter! It's a little longer, I hope that's okay.**

 **Trigger Warning: Domestic Abuse**

"Heeyah!" The axe came sailing from Astrid's hand, landing directly into the center of the target she had set up. She heaved the weapon out, turned, fell into a shoulder roll, landing on her feet with a grunt. She took a deep breath, and wiped the sweat from her brow.

As she always did, she took a moment to focus on her target, breathing deeply, and directing all her concentration into the move. She closed her eyes, willing herself to clear her mind.

 _Focus Hofferson, you need this._ She focused on her breathing. _Everyone's counting on you._ In. _You are the one who can do this._ Out. _You'll be the one killing the Nightmare._ In. _Because you're perfect._ She gritted her teeth. Out. _Everyone says so._ In. _You can't let them down._ Out. _Don't let them down, Hofferson._ Her eyebrows furrowed. _Don't let them down._ Out.

"Heeyah!"

" _And the winner of the annual Thawfest games, his first win-,"_

" _-Of many," Spitelout grinned._

" _Snotlout Jorgenson!"_

 _Snotlout ran up to the podium to accept his medal. He glanced at his father, who nodded eagerly._

" _Snotlout, Snotlout, oi, oi, oi!"_

 _The arena burst into applause, and Snotlout was grinning from ear to ear. He was ten now, competing in his first ever Thawfest games, and he won!_ Just like my dad said.

 _The thought caused him to pause for a moment, but seeing his father look so… so_ proud _of him… he smiled again._

 _Astrid, however, was not smiling. Her father patted her back._

" _Don't worry, my Astrid," her father, Tolfdir, comforted, "There's always next year."_

 _Astrid huffed, "I thought I had it, papa! I've never seen Snotlout so," she searched for the word, "so determined._

 _Tolfdir chuckled. "The boy could do with a little determination. Too scatter-brained, in my opinion."_

 _Astrid crossed her arms, "But I didn't win!"_

 _Her father knelt down in front of her, "Now Astrid, I know you're upset, but don't complain about another's success. It's your job to do the best you can, and it's theirs to do the same." Astrid looked away. "Sometimes their best is better, you have to understand that."_

" _But I don't want it to be." She mumbled._

 _Tolfdir straightened up. "Then you must work harder, my girl."_

 _Astrid looked up at her father, pondering this for a moment. Then, with great resolve, she nodded._

 _After that moment, she trained daily. Sometimes with her father, sometimes alone. She never missed a day, even when she should have due to injury or illness. Tolfdir tried hard to teach Astrid the importance of rest, but Astrid used her time to 'rest' to teach her father the importance of consistency._

 _Training made Astrid feel powerful, and important. It wasn't long before most of the village had realized how much potential she had. As she trained more and more, and the more her father told the others, the more expectations she exceeded, and the higher the bar became._

 _Soon, Astrid found the bar to be too high. She used to be able to amaze people all the time. Those times became few and far between, the most she felt she could do was just what she was expected to do, nothing more. So, she set more goals for herself, trained harder, did anything she could to amaze the people of Berk._

 _But she could no longer be content where she was at, she couldn't even feel as if she was breaking even. She was never good enough, and no amount of training seemed to help her._

The chair hit the wall with a satisfying bang. One loose leg falls off upon impact, and rolls away from the rest of the seat. Snotlout picked up the leg, yelling, and throwing it onto the table, which he then shoved into the chair. He glared at the furniture as if it had been the one that made him mess up in training.

"How could I not have seen the dragon right there?" he yelled, kicking the table for emphasis. He grunted, storming over to the door, deciding to take a walk. He opened it, and saw Gobber. Seeing his teacher's face forced a new surge of anger through him, and he slammed the door. Not happy with the lack of visible damage, he threw a hammer at the wall, denting it severely. He suddenly dropped to the floor, heaving.

"It was right in front of you, Snotlout, you could've attacked it!" He stormed upstairs to his bedroom, grabbed a blanket, and screamed into it. Then, he threw it down, stomped on it, and jumped down the stairs.

He angrily shoved the table back in place, glowering at it's blatant misplacing, and straightened it into it's spot. He grabbed the chair and it's leg, and sat down on a bench.

"How am I gonna fix this," he mumbled, "This is fine, dad doesn't know yet, I can fix this." He turned the chair around, examining it closely, "This is just a one-time thing, I'll be better, I can fix this, dad doesn't have to find out, it will be fine, I don't have to get punished for this," he rambled, looking around for some nails.

" _How many times," Spitelout roared, "have I told you not to associate with that Haddock runt?"_

" _I'm s-sorry, daddy!" Snotlout cried, backing away._

 _Spitelout stormed forward, pushing Spitelout into the wall. He knelt down to the boy's level, grabbing his chin, "You listen to what I say next time, okay boy-o?"_

" _B-but-" Snotlout started protesting, only to be cut off by his father slapping him across the face. Snotlout's eyes went wide, the pain barely registering at first. He began screaming, "No! Mommy said you're not allowed!"_

" _Your 'mommy' is dead!" Spitelout bellowed._

 _Snotlout scowled, "She said you can't be angry anymore!" He screamed, trying to run away._

 _Spitelout grabbed onto his arm, and threw him into the wall. He leaned forward and sneered, "Your mother can't help you anymore, you brat. Protect yourself – I didn't raise a coward." Snotlout attempted to get up, but Spitelout pushed him down again. Then, without any words, he left, leaving his son by himself._

That night, the teens (minus Hiccup) ate with Gobber, who was, to say the least, disappointed with their performances.

"Where did the twins go wrong?" He began. Ruffnut and Tuffnut stared at each other in shock.

"I think the real question is, _did_ we do anything wrong?" Tuffnut ventured.

"Yes, you did," Astrid shot, looking up from her meal, "You weren't paying attention, and in the face of danger, you allowed your petty squabbles to take precedence."

"Why, you little-" Ruffnut began, rising from her seat, but she was held back by her brother.

"My sister, I am afraid Astrid is right," Tuffnut spoke, taking off his helmet, and placing it against his chest, "our bond has endangered us. We must be alert at all times." They sat down, snickering.

Astrid frowned into her chicken, shaking her head. _Why aren't they taking this seriously?_ Astrid felt out of place as she quickly answered the rest of Gobber's questions about the day's mishaps. She had been stewing on them as she had been training that afternoon, constantly going over the ways she could've changed the outcome, leaving the group more successful. She had poured into every mistake, examining all the details of what had happened and why. She knew that one had to learn from her mistakes. _Does no one else care about improving and learning?_

Snotlout hadn't said a word throughout the entire meal, instead, sulking into his dinner. Gobber's words felt like daggers to him. How did Fishlegs mess up? Because Snotlout didn't answer the question correctly – he disrupted Fishlegs' focus. He didn't break up the twins' fight. A chief always has to break up fights. He should've know better than that; he had been trained to know better than that. He almost got Astrid killed. A chief is never supposed to harm their people. Hiccup almost got killed too, and he didn't do anything. A chief is always supposed to help out. He knows this. He _knows_ that he knows this. His father forced him to put this into practice every day for the last five years. He can't stop slacking because his father isn't there. He'll find out. He won't be happy.

Hiccup opened the door slowly. He didn't want them to notice his late entrance, then they might ask where he was. But the door squeaked, and Hiccup gave up on that plan.

"Where did Hiccup go wrong?" Gobber's voice rung through the near empty hall.

"He showed up," Ruffnut laughed. _Can't argue with that._

"He didn't get eaten," Tuffnut added. _Wouldn't my dad have liked that._

"He's never where he should be," Astrid finished. _True – I never should have been in training._ He looked up to face his peers, _they all know that._

Hiccup sat down between Snotlout and Astrid. Snotlout looked up for a moment, acknowledging his presence, before looking back down at his plate. Hiccup opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but decided against it. He knew Snotlout didn't like having attention called to himself when he was feeling sick. Not wanting to look weak, or something like that. He turned his attention to Gobber, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Astrid glaring at him.

The tone between the two now was very different than the tone of them during training. Whereas at training, they both felt like they should say something that previously had gone unspoken, now, Hiccup could tell Astrid was very much prepared to tell him something that _had_ been spoken before if he didn't shape up.

Astrid was prepared to show him a world of pain if Hiccup somehow messed up their training. She had been waiting too long to receive formal training, and she wasn't going to let it be wasted all because the chief decided his weak son would benefit from some near-death experiences. But still, Astrid felt… she wouldn't say she felt sorry for him, but she did feel worried. She didn't really want him to actually get hurt.

"The dragon manual," Gobber announced, dropping the book onto the table with a loud thud. This shook Astrid from her thoughts, and caused Snotlout to jump before he resumed his moping position. "Everything we know about every dragon we know of." Thunder rumbled in the distance, quickly followed by a blast of lightning. "No attacks tonight, study up." And with that, he left the hall.

The twins were not impressed with the suggestion to read something. They were quite proud of their lack of reading – only having done it when absolutely necessary. Fishlegs could not understand this, and tried (and failed) to convince them to read about all the monstrous dragons in the book. Still arguing, they too left the hall.

Hiccup turned the book to face him, examining it. He held it out to Snotlout, asking, "Do you want to read it?" There was no response from Snotlout, so Hiccup, mirroring his mentor, dropped the book onto the table. Snotlout bolted upright. "You want to read it?" Hiccup asked again, louder.

Snotlout looked at his cousin, then at the book, then back at his cousin, "No, not tonight," he mumbled, and walked out.

Hiccup stared after his cousin as he exited. "Okay," he muttered to himself. He turned, and then suddenly remembered that it was just him and Astrid in the room together.

" _Roar!" Hiccup yelled, giggling. He flapped his arms around, and ran in circles, pretending to be a dragon._

" _Be gone, foul beast!" Astrid cried, grabbing a stick, and pretending to use it as a sword._

" _Never! No one can kill me!" Hiccup laughed, "Fire!" He blew loudly, and Astrid pretended to fall backwards from the flames._

 _The shield-maiden and the dragon had an epic battle. Sometimes the warrior would get close to winning, like when she cut off one of the dragon's wings, but other times the dragon almost had her beat, like when he burned her sword to a puddle of steaming metal. Soon, it deteriorated to some hand-to-claw fighting, where the shield-maiden reigned supreme. She tickled the dragon so much, he could hardly move._

" _Stop! Stop! I surrender!" Hiccup cried through fits of laughter._

" _Yes!" Astrid cheered, placing her foot firmly on his leg, "I have brought down this mighty beast!"_

 _Hiccup keeled over, tongue out, pretending to be dead. Astrid laughed, and help him get up._

" _I'm only three," Astrid giggled, "and I've already killed a dragon! Won't the village be proud?"_

 _Hiccup laughed, "Not if I kill you first!" He ran, and grabbed two sticks, tossing one to Astrid, and soon, an even more epic sword fight began._

 _Hiccup and Astrid had been the best of friends since birth. Since Snotlout always got into trouble with the Thorston twins, and Fishlegs always shyly stayed with his mother, it seemed inevitable that the two would spend all their time playing together. The Hoffersons and the Haddocks enjoyed this too. Both highly respected families with no bad history between the two, talk of a union once the children were old enough had already started. And with the way the two played together, it seemed it would be a good match._

Hiccup smiled, remembering the two of them when they were little. He turned to Astrid, and stuttered out an invitation to read the book with her. Astrid turned to face the boy, remembering their childhood too. She slowly turned her head, "I'd better not," she explained, and ran out of the Great Hall. Hiccup turned back to the book. The thought of reading it himself was sounding worse and worse every minute. He glanced at the door and nodded. Taking the book with him, he ran through the rain to Snotlout's house.

He knocked on the door quickly, really wanting to be somewhere dry, and Snotlout opened the door looking slightly exasperated. "Look," Hiccup quickly explained, "I know you said you didn't want to read it tonight, but," he stopped for a moment, making sure he doesn't say what he wants to say – that he can find stuff out about the Night Fury, namely, like why it didn't kill him, "Gobber said we should read it, and no one else wants it tonight."

Snotlout frowned, knowing that it probably isn't all that important, but he saw that Hiccup really wants to read it. "I guess it would help with training," he decided. Hiccup smiled, and walked inside.

Hiccup went over to the table, setting the book down.

"Don't sit there," Snotlout blurted as Hiccup went to sit down on the chair. Hiccup cocked his head in confusion. "You should sit on the bench instead," Snotlout quickly explained, "it's easier to see the book if we're on the same side of the table." Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows, but nodded, walking over to the other side of the table.

"What's with that?" Hiccup asked, pointing to the dent on the wall.

"That'salwaysbeentheresitdown," Snotlout cried.

Hiccup looked warily at his cousin, but decided not to question it in case he was, indeed, sick. He sat down and opened the book, "Um, so do you want to start off?"

Snotlout sat down, and groaned, "I really don't like reading."

Hiccup gave a short laugh, "Well it sucks to be you, because that's what I'm here for."

"I could just kick you out," Snotlout suggested, pulling the book over to him, "let's see, what class shall we start with?"

"The best one," Hiccup said, glancing over at the page.

Snotlout pulled the book closer to himself, "Sooo, strike class?"

"Is that the first one listed?"

"Maybe."

Hiccup laughed, "sure, why not."

Snotlout started reading, using a very animated voice, which caused both of them to laugh. They took turns reading through the entire book, half-laughing, half-shivering from the terrifying pictures and descriptions. There were a few dragons who did terrible things, like turning men inside out, but had little-to-no description on how they did it. Snotlout enjoyed filling in the blanks, which horrified Hiccup.

"Why do you think like this?" Hiccup asked at one point, laughing uncertainly.

"I don't make it up," Snotlout responded using a dark voice, "In my dreams, the gods come to tell me the dragon's secrets so that one day I may use it against the beasts."

Hiccup laughed, "And in my dreams, the gods come to tell me the lies they've tricked you into believing."

Snotlout shoved his cousin jokingly, and returned to reading.

There were some dragons that didn't have any picture, so Hiccup took out his notebook, and sketched what he thought they might look like.

"More fangs," Snotlout quipped as Hiccup was drawing a Changewing, "and give it seven wings."

"You idiot," Hiccup mumbled, "wings have to come in pairs. What would a single wing do?"

"Flap with all it's might and send you flying off the edge of the world."

Finally, they reached the end of the book, where the final entry was all about Night Furies. An entire page was devoted to the dragon, but almost no information was written on it. Snotlout and Hiccup stared at it wordless for a solid minute.

"There's nothing here," Snotlout mumbled, finally breaking the silence.

"Nothing," Hiccup confirmed, awed and scared at the same time.

Suddenly, Snotlout began to smile, "but we've seen it Hiccup! Draw it in!"

Hiccup slowly shook his head, "No, I can't do that."

Snotlout frowned, "Why not? You're a good drawer!"

Hiccup turned to his cousin, "No, Snotlout. If I draw it in, they'll know that we saw it, and then they'll wonder why we didn't kill it."

Snotlout looked back at the book, remembering what his father after he returned home the previous day. "Right," he sighed, "well, good night then."

Hiccup nodded, getting up, "I'll bring the book back." They waved a silent good bye, and Hiccup exited the house. The only thing he could think of on his way back to the Hall, and then back home, was that he and Snotlout know more about the Night Fury than anyone else on Berk, _and I know even more than Snotlout._ When he was finally home and in bed, a question struck him: What else could he find out?

 **AN: Shout out to WolfieDragon, btw. He's written some great stories that you should** _ **definitely**_ **check out (Black as Night is 11/10, trust me). Tolfdir as Astrid's father is his headcanon, and he gave me permission to use the character.**

 **And just a before questions before you go:**

 **1) Do I still have to add in trigger warnings?**

 **and 2) Is this even a good (or worthwhile) fic? If you have a minute, could you leave some constructive criticism or something? Should I change anything up? I dunno…**

 **IG: googlegravityfanfics**


	7. Part 2 - Chapter 6

**AN:** **I want to start off this chapter by thanking Dannrose, and Aaquater. You're insightful and helpful comments mean more to me than you know.**

 **Also, there is another domestic abuse trigger warning for this chapter. This is the last chapter I'm planning on putting the warning on, despite their being more chapters about it later. If you really think I should keep the warnings, comment, or PM me, but otherwise, you have been warned for any and all further chapters.**

 **That being said, here is chapter 6, and part two!**

Part 2 – Perseverance

"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."

-Confucious

" _I heard about your performance," Spitelout drawled, walking towards his son. His footsteps echoed, the sound reverberating in Snotlout's ears. "Everyone's heard by now."_

 _Snotlout tried to back away, but it was if his feet were stone. Spitelout was close now, Snotlout could smell his breath. He looked up to face his father, kept looking up, his father was towering above him. "It won't happen again, sir," was what he tried to say. Instead, tiny, unintelligible squeaks left his mouth. Spitelout laughed._

" _How does that feel, boy-o?" Spitelout leered, leaning forward. Snotlout pulled back, but his feet couldn't move with him. Losing his balance, he fell over, sprawled onto the floor. Spitelout pulled him up by the chin, holding him like this now what seemed like feet above the ground, "How does it feel to be the village disappointment?"_

 _Again, Snotlout tried to reason with this man, but all that he could utter was a small, "s-sir."_

 _Spitelout's fingers against Snotlout's chin tightened, and his expression shifted from one of sadistic pleasure to one of unmeasurable anger, "You made me look like a fool!" Snotlout could feel his jaw breaking, but then he was suddenly released, and he was falling._

 _Falling, but he never hit the floor._

 _Snotlout was always falling, always bracing for the impact that would never come, always staring back at the father who looked at him with disappointed fury._

 _Snotlout couldn't look away, couldn't do anything to help, could only regret the choices he made. He was tortured by his thoughts of where he went wrong, and what he could've done better._

 _And then he hit the floor._

Snotlout bolted upright in a cold sweat. He looked around, relieved to find he was just in his bed.

The ships were approaching the fog. They would soon be behind a curtain of sorts. Everything behind here was filled with uncertainty, the fog blocking most of their vision. Despite the copious amounts of expeditions spent exploring these uncharted waters, the Vikings knew very little about the area – only that it was extremely dangerous, and that they were in the hands of the beasts.

Spitelout walked to the front of the ship, towards his brother, "Do you think we'll find the nest this time?" He asked sounding official and proud, despite the less-than situation.

"We have to," Stoick muttered, straining his eyes, hoping to find something, anything, "or it will be too late. We won't make it through the winter."

Spitelout laughed, "We're Vikings, Stoick! We're tough, all of us!" He glanced at his brother cautiously, but he smiled maliciously, "Well, most of us, that is."

Stoick felt his eyebrows furrow. _Not this again._ "Hiccup's tough," Stoick spat, "you just haven't seen."

Spitelout let out a guffaw, "I haven't seen it because it isn't true!" He exclaimed.

Stoick turned to his brother, facing him with a death stare. He was prepared to make Spitelout regret his years of nagging, once and for all, but he was stopped by a cold chill falling upon the ships. The fleet was now filled with the fog. No Viking could see further than their hand, the gray haze blocking all else out.

Then suddenly, the air filled with fire, and the dragons were upon them.

Astrid grabbed her axe, slinging it over her shoulder comfortably. Today, she was confident about training – a rarity. But after spending her entire day yesterday training, and all of last night and that morning mentally preparing, she was sure she wasn't going to make any mistakes, and she would be able to help the other trainees do the same.

This confidence, however, was torn to shreds as she neared the arena. The ring was filled with ten-foot barriers creating a maze. She groaned, knowing that no matter how prepared she was, someone else was going to make a colossal mistake today.

Snotlout forced himself to appear calm and collected walking into training that day, he really did. He figured if he could convince the others he was feeling determined, and confident, then maybe he could believe it too. But he still felt incredibly nervous and jumpy, conjuring up different scenarios of what could happen today, what dragon they would be facing, what they would do. In more scenarios than not, he found himself messing up, being weak, letting his father down.

Hiccup was completely exhausted walking into training. He got hardly any sleep the previous night, the thoughts that he knows more about the Night Fury than anyone else on Berk, and what could that mean for him, or how that could even be possible, pestering him all through the night. Hiccup was nervous about the dragon, and about training, but there was an excitement coursing through him, an excitement to see what else he can learn.

Training, in a word, was terrible. The Nadder they were to fight was quick, something that Snotlout certainly was not that day. He over-analyzed every move he made, making sure nothing he would do would receive backlash, but this meant he was slow to decisions, which had almost killed him. Luckily for him, his younger cousin was distracted. Hiccup was convinced somehow, that since the Night Fury wasn't actually as deadly as people thought – it didn't even kill him! – then perhaps there is more to know about the dragon. Hiccup even had a conspiracy theory unravelling in his head – perhaps people lied about the Night Fury and its deadly powers to keep people away from something. The question was, what were they hiding? All Hiccup knew was that somethings weren't adding up.

With the combination of Snotlout's slow recovery time, and Hiccup's complete ignorance to what was going on, it wasn't long until the inevitable happened.

All the walls in the arena fell like dominoes, crashing into each other, barely giving the teens time to escape a painful death. In this narrow escape, Hiccup and Astrid crashed into each other, with the girl's axe stuck in the boy's shield. Astrid strained to remove the axe, using whatever she could (including Hiccup's face) as leverage. As this failed, and the Nadder was drawing neared, Astrid gave up, pulling the shield off of Hiccup's arm, and throwing the whole thing – axe and shield together – at the dragon's snout, scaring it away.

Astrid turned back around, facing the boy with a huff. She wasn't supposed to be near him, much less on top of him! The twins had commented on the ordeal, making snide jokes about them as a couple. Though annoying, the jokes were funny, in a way. Imagine, Astrid, the soon-to-be shield maiden the tribe was anticipating, with Hiccup, the runt son of the chief, who brought destruction wherever he went, and would no doubt be the eventual downfall of Berk. Briefly, a memory of the two of them playing as children flashed in her mind, but she shook her head. She couldn't be seen with him, not like that.

She felt anger welling up inside of her, and she let it out on Hiccup. "How dare you ruin our chances to train?" She yelled, "You could've gotten us all killed!" Hiccup looked up at her, his face not conveying any emotion. She frowned at this, how could he not be angry? "Do you _want_ us dead? Whose side are you on?" She swung her axe at him threateningly. He drew back defensively, but didn't face her. "What a traitor," she muttered, and stormed out of the ring.

Hiccup stared after her as she left, her words refusing to leave him. Was he a traitor? But he would never wish for anyone to die. _"Whose side are you on?"_ The words rung fresh. She was implying he might choose the dragons over people. But he could never, could he?

" _Let's sit with them," Astrid suggested, pointing to a table with Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Fishlegs._

 _Hiccup gulped, "How about over here instead?" He gestured towards an empty table. Astrid looked at him, confused. "Please?" Hiccup added. Astrid nodded slowly, and they sat down._

" _Why didn't you want to sit with them?" Astrid asked through bites of her lunch._

 _Hiccup stared at his plate for a moment, thinking about how to say it. "I just don't think they want me to sit there."_

 _Astrid furrowed her eyebrows, "Why not?"_

 _Hiccup sighed, "I mean, they never play with me."_

 _Astrid thought this over with another bite, "I guess so. Why do you think they do that?"_

" _I heard Fishlegs and Ruffnut and Tuffnut's dads talking," he admitted, "they said they didn't want the twins or Fishlegs playing with me."_

" _What?" Astrid exclaimed, "Really?"_

 _Hiccup nodded, "They said that I'm a 'runt' and that it wouldn't be good for me to be around them. They also said not to tell my dad."_

 _Astrid frowned, "That's not very nice._ You _should tell your dad."_

 _Hiccup shook his head, "No, I don't think I should."_

" _Why," Astrid asked again._

 _Hiccup looked back down at his plate, "Because I think they're right."_

Hiccup frowned. He would never chose dragons over his people, right?

" _My dad wants me working for Gobber," Hiccup complained, "I won't have any time to play with you!"_

" _We'll still have time," Snotlout consoled, but then he remembered something, "But… maybe it's okay if we don't play together as much?"_

" _What?" Hiccup screeched, "Why?"_

 _Snotlout realized the impact of his words and immediately comforted his cousin, "No! No, never mind! It's just, my dad doesn't like you much…"_

Hiccup stood up unsteadily. _Right?_

" _Why doesn't your dad like me?" Hiccup sniffed._

" _I dunno," Snotlout admitted, "But don't worry, he doesn't like anything. My mom likes you!"_

 _Hiccup smiled weakly, "Okay."_

Hiccup nodded with some slight resolve. He couldn't betray his people. He glanced at the fallen barriers. _That doesn't mean they might not give up on me,_ he thought sarcastically.

 **AN: Question: Should I respond to comments in Author's Notes before/after the chapters? Or shout-out commenters? Let me know what you think, and what you thought of the chapter.**

 **Also, I have an Instagram if you wanna follow: googlegravityfanfics (will I ever stop self-promoting?)**


	8. Part 2 - Chapter 7

**AN: Hey guys! I'm just gonna apologized in advance for how this chapter starts. It's a continuation of the last chapter (which is why the last line of that one, and the first of this one are the same), and I thought it might work nicely, but I will admit, it is a weird beginning.**

 **Aaaaand, I'm going to reply to comments! I've never done this before, so let me know what you think of it.**

 **Aaquater: I agree, it isn't fair of Astrid. But she's on edge, and once you find out about their past, things might make a little more sense ;) And, I'm not gonna lie, Hiccup's theory was based off of the We Are Family episodes, and the RTTE Bad Moon Rising episode.**

 **Dannrose: Thank you! This chapter doesn't involve too many characters, but I'll keep your suggestion in mind with later chapters.**

 **HighKingsRuin: All I'm gonna say is, don't you worry about it.**

 **EDIT: Forgot line breaks, here they are now.**

* * *

Hiccup nodded with some slight resolve. He couldn't betray his people. He glanced at the fallen barriers. _That doesn't mean they might not give up on me,_ he thought sarcastically.

He glanced at the exit of the arena, and noticed Snotlout storming out. Hiccup jogged over to his cousin.

"What's wrong?" He asked, grabbing Snotlout's arm, trying to slow him.

"I'm not doing good enough," Snotlout muttered angrily, shoving Hiccup's arm away.

" _Well_ enough," Hiccup corrected, receiving a glare from his cousin, "not that it's important. But I mean, at least you didn't cause all the walls down. That's gotta be one of my best."

Snotlout snorted despite himself, and Hiccup grinned.

"And I mean, the outcome!" Hiccup exclaimed, continuing, " _The_ Astrid Hofferson, on top of _me!_ "

Snotlout burst out laughing, "Who'd'a thunk it?"

Hiccup snickered, "But is it bad if she starts yelling at me right away after?"

"Someone's probably into it," Snotlout added, snickering.

"Man," Hiccup laughed, "Imagine if that kind of thing happened every time! If I shoot a hole through a hut?"

"You score a date," Snotlout finished.

"Lose our winter reserves?"

"Lose something else."

"Burn down half the village?"

Snotlout pretended to pass out, falling to the ground, "Too much!"

Hiccup laughed, and helped his cousin get up. "Wouldn't that be something?"

Snotlout stood up, and realized he was right in front of his father's house. "But you can't be rewarded for mistakes," Snotlout stated in monotone.

Hiccup frowned from this sudden mood shift, but nodded, "I guess so?"

"I better go train more," Snotlout excused himself, "See you tonight then."

Hiccup nodded, "Okay." Snotlout trudged to the forest, aimlessly swinging his bludgeon.

Hiccup turned and walked to his house. He went down to the cellar, where his dad stored their personal food supply. Hiccup looked around, wondering if he should make himself dinner sometime while his father was gone. His eyes fell on a basket of fish, and an idea struck him.

Grabbing a fish and a shield, he ran towards the woods behind his house.

* * *

Hiccup held up his shield defensively, awkwardly waddling into the cove in a way that the shield protected most of his body. This, however, was brought to an abrupt end, when Hiccup walked into the converging cave walls, the shield being firmly stuck in place. Hiccup sighed, half-laughing at himself, have shaking with fear, and ducked under the now useless shield.

He scanned the area apprehensively, the Night Fury seemingly gone. _Did it fly away?_ Hiccup turned around, looking around the rest of the cove. _Maybe it's for the best if the dragon isn't here?_

But just as he thought that, the Night Fury jumped down from it's perch, and immediately began to stalk the boy. Hiccup backed up fearfully, and ran into a boulder. He held the fish out far away from him, and shut his eyes. _Will they be able to find my body?_ Hiccup found himself thinking as he recoiled from the dragon.

The anticipation of his own death beginning to bother him, Hiccup squinted his eyes open. The dragon stared at the boy, slowly opening its mouth to discover bright pink gums where the teeth should be. Hiccup laughed despite the situation, "Toothless."

Toothless did not appear to appreciate the joke, and snapped his teeth into place. Hiccup gulped soberly, and extended his hand even further, as if reminding the dragon of the fish. The dragon squinted, and gingerly took the fish from his hand.

Hiccup sighed in relief, "Oh, thank gods." He turned to the dragon, "Thank you, Toothless." He grinned at the name. Toothless threw up. The fish slid onto Hiccup's lap, and a pool of saliva formed in his tunic. "Thank you, Toothless," Hiccup repeated with a different tone of voice.

Toothless looked at the boy expectantly. Hiccup frowned, and cocked his head in confusion. Toothless looked quickly down at the fish, and then back at the boy. Hiccup stared at the dragon in shock, "Are you serious?" Toothless smacked his lips together. "Is this because of the name?" Toothless' eyes danced with mischief. Hiccup sighed, "fine."

Resigned, Hiccup took a bite from the fish, and immediately regretted it. Toothless gave a pronounced swallow, all while staring at the boy. Hiccup groaned, and swallowed the fish, bile quickly running up his throat, which he had to swallow as well.

"You happy?" Hiccup asked, smiling with fake cheer. Toothless stared at the boy for a moment, and then, one end of the mouth at a time, pulled his lips into a smile.

"No way," Hiccup breathed. Without thinking, he held out his hand towards the dragon's snout. Toothless sniffed angrily, and stomped away. Hiccup grinned and followed the dragon.

Toothless stopped not too far away, having found a nice spot in the grass, and burnt a bed into the ground. He walked in a circle, padding down the area, and then lied down, his tail wrapped around him. Hiccup studied the missing fin, and inched towards the dragon, reaching out to touch the tail. Sensing his presence, Toothless raised his tail and gave the boy the look. Hiccup laughed awkwardly, nodding, and walked away.

Hiccup glanced back at the dragon. He didn't really want to leave right now, but it was clear Toothless wasn't going to be interacting much for a while. He decided to wait it out, and plunked himself down on a rock. But he soon got bored, and went and found a stick, so that at least he could doodle mindlessly. As he was doing so, he couldn't help but think about the whole ordeal. _What would the others think, if they saw me eating a fish that a dragon regurgitated?_ He laughed, _Snotlout would probably lose it. Tuffnut and Ruffnut would want a piece. Fishlegs would be intrigued by a puking dragon. Astrid-_ His thoughts halted. He frowned, _Astrid would yell at me. She'd tell my dad. Probably get me exiled._ He sighed, looking down at his feet. Now actually paying attention to what he was subconsciously drawing – Toothless. He wondered if that meant something.

Hiccup felt a huff down his neck. He glanced behind him. Toothless was standing over top of him, watching intently as Hiccup finished his drawing. The dragon wobbled away, and Hiccup watched in confusion as the Night Fury tore down a tree.

Toothless put one end of the tree on the ground, and dragged it around, forming deep lines in the dirt. Hiccup watched in amazement as he realized Toothless was drawing. Toothless made a few laps around Hiccup, squiggling here and there. Proud of himself, the dragon set the tree down.

Hiccup got up, and observed the lines as he walked around. He was interrupted by a low growling. He looked at Toothless in confusion, and then followed the dragon's gaze. He almost laughed – he was standing on the drawing. Hiccup lifted his foot up, and the growling stopped. Down, growl. Up, quiet. Hiccup laughed. Down, growl. Up, quiet. Hiccup stepped over the line. Toothless purred.

Hiccup turned, placing his foot down on the other side of a new line, and repeated this motion, swaying rhythmically, moving in some sort of silent dance. He went until there were no more lines. He looked up, to find Toothless right above him. Hiccup stepped away.

Again, without thinking, but this time, feeling, Hiccup held out his hand. Toothless looked apprehensive, and Hiccup understood. He turned his head away from the dragon, and extended his arm and his fingers. He felt Toothless tentatively press his snout into his hand.

Hiccup almost collapsed.

* * *

" _Such beautiful creatures, so gentle, graceful, and so sophisticated."_

* * *

Hiccup breathed deeply, turning to face Toothless. The dragon pulled back, and for a moment, they made eye contact. Hiccup willed his eyes to say the unspoked words – "thank you."

* * *

" _Hiccup, they don't deserve the pain we put them through."_

* * *

 **AN: So how was that chapter? I know I strayed from the movie a little bit with the Forbidden Friendship scene. Was that okay? And how did you guys like the naming process? The movie kind of glossed over that one, I like filling in the blanks a little bit. And do you guys like me responding to comments? Should I continue?**

 **IG: googlegravityfanfics**


	9. Part 2 - Chapter 8

**AN: Before you stone me, I know this is late, I'm sorry! The holidays are just really busy, and I don't think I need to excuse myself too much. I'll push to get the next chapter done in time, okay?**

 **That being said, I'm gonna respond to the reviews, and then hop right into the story.**

 **Aaquater: I honestly love your review so much! It's so happy! :) I'm glad you're picking up on the small stuff, though I guess I'm making it all pretty obvious, aren't I? I'm liking the responses too!**

 **HighKings-Ruin: That's good! And TBH, I feel the same sometimes. That's not good, is it, though?**

 **Dannrose: Thank you! I never know the difference! And I'm going to be using the word 'niggle' a lot more now!**

* * *

Snotlout grunted as he performed his seventy-second push-up, exhaustion from his workout seeping in. A part of him was wanting to stop more than anything. Another part of him was filled with the sound of his father yelling at him to do more, to work harder, or else he'll regret it. He squeezed his eyes shut, as if this would keep the exhaustion from setting in. Thirty push-ups later, he gave out, and collapsed on the ground. He sighed, relieved that his dad wasn't there to see that. Still, he wasted no time in getting up on his feet.

He brushed off his shirt, and then an axe came whizzing past his head. Startled, he jumped backwards. Slowly, he turned around to face his attacker, the one and only, Astrid Hofferson.

Snotlout and Astrid made eye contact, neither knowing exactly what to do in a situation like this. Despite having had a crush on the girl for the past four years, and really wanting to impress her, Snotlout couldn't find the words to say anything. What would he even say? He didn't really want to invite her to join him or anything. For Snotlout, training was for self-improvement, to somehow get good enough to escape the wrath of Spitelout. It would be awkward to share that with someone else, even if they didn't know the motives.

* * *

Astrid stared at Snotlout, unsure what to say. She _did_ just about behead him. Should she apologize? She knew it was probably a normal thing to do, but she couldn't think of the last time she had said the words, "I'm sorry." Should she invite him to train with her? Astrid didn't quite like the idea of that – training was the only time the pressure for greatness was slightly diminished, only existing in her mind.

Astrid finally broke eye contact to retrieve her axe. She turned to face Snotlout, sure she should say something, but the words still failed her.

* * *

"I can move," Snotlout offered, deciding that was probably best.

Astrid mutely nodded, and awkwardly waved.

Snotlout nodded uncomfortably, and gave a short wave before he left. He jogged in the opposite direction for a while, scanning the area for a new suitable place to train. He focuses on the running, and on the land, trying not to think about training, and about his father, and Astrid and Hiccup and everything. But as he reached the edge of the woods, he realized that he doesn't want to train, really, and he doesn't want to keep running from his thoughts. But then the question arises, what does he want to do? Snotlout decided he wanted to hang out with Hiccup. Hiccup always made him feel better.

* * *

 _"It's a good day for luggin' sheep, Mulch," Bucket declared into his announcer's horn._

 _Mulch laughed, "It's always a good day for luggin' sheep, Bucket!" He responded into his horn, "And today will be the first of those days for these young Vikings."_

 _Hiccup and Snotlout and the rest were all ten years old, old enough to compete in the Thawfest games. It was a big milestone in their young lives – they would be representing their houses for the first time ever. Many had trained hard for this moment. Astrid had ran ten miles with her dad for the weeks leading up to this day. Spitelout had increased Snotlout's training regimen, so much so that the young boy had had barely any free time. The twins were forced to train, but they ended up learning more about how to avoid training than they had learned about any techniques. Fishlegs had been given loads upon loads of advice from other members of the House Ingerson, so much that he had to write it all down – not that he had a problem with that._

 _And Hiccup? Well, sometimes when Hiccup was helping around the smith, Gobber would give him little bits of advice – "lift with your knees," or, "keep your eye on the target," but nothing further._

 _Snotlout had felt an immense pressure to win the games. His father trained him harder then ever before, and even when he was improving, Spitelout could point out all his mistakes with ease. Everyday, Spitelout would tell Snotlout about how a Jorgenson hadn't lost the games – or even came close for that matter – and warned Snotlout about losing._

 _Snotlout won the games, which Spitelout certainly enjoyed. Hiccup was taken aback by how seriously everyone had taken it. Gobber had told_ him _to walk into the games with the goal to 'have fun.' Hiccup wondered if Gobber had doubted his chances, but he brushed it off. He would just have to train more next year._

 _And he did. He had convinced Gobber to help him out, and sometimes Stoick would stray from his busy schedule to step in for a bit. Hiccup appreciated this at first, but soon he realized that the sore muscles, total exhaustion, and encouragement in the form of yelling may not be worth the reward of his father sitting down and talking to him at mealtimes. Even then, they only spoke about training, which was such a bland topic._

* * *

Snotlout walked over to Hiccup's house, only to find upon inspection, that it was empty. Snotlout frowned, but figured that Hiccup was probably at the forge, working on some new invention.

Snotlout was about halfway to the forge when he heard the familiar sound of a hammer pounding metal. He grinned, and jogged the rest of the way, only to find it was only Gobber.

"Oh," he muttered at this discovery.

"Not happy to see ol' Gobber?" The older man asked with a toothy grin.

"I'm always happy to see ol' Gobber," Snotlout quickly responded, "but I'm afraid you aren't Hiccup. Do you know where he is?"

"Haven't seen him since this morning," Gobber responded, "Shame, too. I could really use his help."

"Huh," Snotlout mumbled, _Where could he be?_

"You're welcome to stay here," Gobber invited, "not much help you'll be, but you can keep me company."

Snotlout shook his head, "No thank you, I think I'll look a little more. He couldn't have gone far." The blacksmith nodded, "If you want, I could tell him you want his help?"

"Don't worry about it, you go find your cousin."

Snotlout nodded thanks, and left at a slow jog.

Snotlout ran around the village for about an hour trying to find Hiccup. He looked everywhere – the Great Hall, the cliffs where Hiccup goes to when he's thinking of new invention ideas (and Snotlout jokes that he's contemplating life), even the areas in behind the houses where they would play when they were looking. But still, no Hiccup. Snotlout stopped for a breather, and wondered where his cousin could possibly be. Eventually, he gave up. He ran back to Hiccup's house, and decided to wait for him at the doorstep.

* * *

 _Hiccup peaked out from behind a tree, watching Snotlout act out a sword fight with a stick. Snotlout was attacking a boulder with all the might and agility he could possibly muster, and Hiccup noticed that it looked like a lot of fun._

 _"Snotlout," he squeaked nervously, as he shyly walked out from behind the tree, "can I play too?"_

 _"Sure," Snotlout grinned, and looked for another suitable stick. Hiccup stood patiently as Snotlout picked up several branches, and tested them on the boulder. After about a minute, Snotlout held out a stick to his cousin, extremely satisfied. "This one should be really good," he beamed._

 _"Thank you," Hiccup nodded politely. Snotlout resumed his game, "So are you just hitting it?" Hiccup asked._

 _Snotlout seemed very shocked by this. "There's lots of tenique, Hiccup!"_

 _"Do you mean technique?"_

 _Snotlout frowned as he considered this, "Maybe. But I think my daddy says tenique."_

 _Hiccup didn't know how to respond to this._

 _"So when you're doing it," Snotlout continued, "you wanna use the teniques, 'kay? So, one is the 'piercing lunge.'" Hiccup nodded, listening intently. "What you do with that one, is you bend your knees like this," Snotlout demonstrated, "you put your arms up in the air, and then you kinda turn, step, and swing your sword at the same time." Hiccup watched in awe as Snotlout did the move just like all the adults did. "You try!" Snotlout exclaimed._

 _Hiccup grinned doubtfully, and tried to copy the moves. But as soon as he bent his knees and lifted his arms, he lost his balance and toppled over. Hiccup laughed embarrassedly, and got up. "Sorry," he mumbled._

 _"'s'okay," Snotlout giggled, "But I thought you would've done it!"_

 _Hiccup shook his head, "No, I can't even go upstairs to my room without falling."_

 _Snotlout laughed harder, and Hiccup found himself laughing genuinely as well._

 _"But I thought you really would've been better," Snotlout tried again, "you always play fighting with Astrid."_

 _Hiccup stopped laughing. "I-" Words were failing him. "I'm sorry."_

 _Snotlout frowned, "It's fine. But why_ are _you playing with me? Why not with Astrid?"_

 _Hiccup felt his cheeks go hot, and he faced away from Snotlout. "She doesn't want to play with me anymore," he muttered._

 _"Oh," Snotlout whispered, shocked, "well, her loss then. Let's try the piercing lunge again, 'kay?"_

 _Hiccup nodded mutely, and tried the move again. He was still shamefullly terrible, in his opinion, but Snotlout kept giving him tips, and they practiced it over and over again, until Hiccup did something sort of resembling the piercing lunge._

 _Hiccup sighed, and collapsed onto the ground. "I don't think I like sword fighting."_

 _Snotlout laughed, and plopped down beside him. "I think you will. But you did good today."_

 _Hiccup looked up at his older cousin curiously, "You think so?"_

 _"Yeah," Snotlout confirmed, "but you'd be better if you tried again tomorrow."_

 _Hiccup groaned, "Let's think about that tomorrow."_

 _Snotlout laughed, "It's getting dark," he remarked._

 _Hiccup nodded, "Guess we'd better go." Snotlout stood up, and extended his hand to his cousin. Hiccup took his arm and stood up. "This was actually kind of fun," Hiccup muttered as they walked out of the forest._

 _"See?" Snotlout beamed, "I knew you'd like it."_

 _"Maybe not enough to do it every day, though," Hiccup added, noting the soreness in his arms and legs._

 _"It's fine," Snotlout commented, and their conversation lulled. They walked through the village silently, and it wasn't long before they crossed Astrid._

 _Astrid looked at the two, stopped, staring at them for a moment. Hiccup dropped his gaze, and she ran away._

 _They continued walking noiselessly, and finally they reached Snotlout's house._

 _"I'm sorry," Hiccup began, but Snotlout interrupted him._

 _"I was thinking tomorrow we should try the destroyer's defence."_

 _Hiccup stared at him for a moment, and then he nodded and smiled. "Okay."_

* * *

 **AN: So how was it, after such a long wait?**

 **BTW, the sword fighting names come from 'How to Be a Pirate.' It's the second book in the HTTYD series, and for those of you who haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it. 10/10**

 **Happy Snoggeltog, and have a good 2018!**

 **Follow me on instagram, googlegravityfanfics**


	10. Part 2 - Chapter 9

**AN: Here's chapter nine! Fun fact, this was supposed to be the second half of chapter 8, but since bith parts ended up totalling at about 2000 words, I figured I should probably break it up.**

 **Here are the review responses:**

 **Aaquater: And there will be more with Astrid and Hiccup, too! And that's one of my favourite things about Hiccup and Snotlout's relationship, even their canon relationship, I'm glad other people notice it as well!**

 **Meraki7734: It did! The most exciting thing about it being 2018, is that we're one year closer to HTTYD3, lol. Thank you! So true, and it's kind of surprising, seeing as Snotlout's actually portrayed very nicely in RTTE. And thank you so much for your understanding!**

 **And a quick word to the guest who commented on chapter three (which is technically chapter four): If you want to legitimately bring up a topic of interest with me, please make an account. I'm more than willing to PM you, or email you, or whatever.**

* * *

Hiccup walked home from the cove with a bounce to his step, but a certain dread in his heart. The thing he's believed his entire life, that dragons aren't actually as bad as the Vikings think they are, has been confirmed to be true. Toothless, the quote, "offspring of lightning and death itself," willingly took food from Hiccup, and they created this bond to each other, a type of connection that Hiccup couldn't describe. He didn't know what it meant, but he did know that he had to make things better for the dragons. As far as he knew, he was the second person to know the truth about the dragons, the first being the woman that he heard when he first found Toothless. And the woman was right; the dragon's don't deserve the pain the Vikings put them through. But how would Hiccup stop this?

That thought plagued him all the way back to his house. The joy that bonding with Toothless also brought a feeling of obligation to help the other dragons, and Hiccup didn't know how to help. He was so deep in thought, that he didn't notice Snotlout sleeping at his doorstep until Hiccup tripped over his cousin's leg.

"Whuzzat?" Snotlout mumbled incoherently as he shot up.

Hiccup struggled to keep his heartbeat down after the shock woke him from his thoughts, "Sorry, I didn't see you there. I wasn't paying attention."

Snotlout also struggled to keep his heartbeat down after the shock woke him from his sleep, "No problem," he laughed, "but where were you?" he asked, glancing up at the now sunset-filled sky.

"Uh," Hiccup stammered, trying to come up with some excuse, "I was… at the beach?"

Snotlout looked to be taken aback, "The beach? What were you doing there?"

"Uh, trying to figure out some things for a new invention. Figured a change of scenery might help."

"Huh. Did it work? When can I see it?"

"No, it didn't help much," Hiccup babbled nervously, hoping to close the topic, "and, y'know, it's still only up here."

"Oh. Well, anyways, guess who I bumped into earlier?"

Hiccup let out a silent sigh of relief, happy Snotlout had moved on, "Who's that?"

Snotlout smirked. "Oh, I better not, you'd be too jealous."

"Oh, why?" Hiccup grinned, "You run into a human incarnation of Thor, or something?"

"Better," Snotlout laughed.

"How do you get better than a human Thor?" Hiccup asked incredulously, before gasping dramatically, "Did you meet the _real_ Thor?"

"I wish," Snotlout mumbled dreamily, "But, no. I ran into Astrid!"

Hiccup felt his cheeks go hot as he remembered training, "Really?"

"Yeah," Snotlout exclaimed, "I was out in the forest training, and then she threw her axe, and almost cut my head off."

"No," Hiccup marvelled.

"Yeah," Snotlout squeaked, "It was really awkward though. She just kinda stood there until I left."

"Weird," Hiccup muttered, "Do you think you were in her normal training area or something?"

"No, I was where I usually go."

"Huh. Well, maybe it's fate," Hiccup exclaimed.

"Yeah, like I'm her soulmate, and that's part of our origin story!"

Hiccup snorted, "If anything, she's my soulmate. Obviously. We'll bond over the weird things you do."

"And the more you talk about it, the more she'll realize how much she loves me!" Snotlout laughed.

Hiccup scoffed, "She would cheat on me with my own cousin?"

"And we'll both enjoy it very much."

Hiccup chuckled, "Not that you too would last long."

"I mean, we all know who she's really destined to be with," Snotlout added.

"Fishlegs," Hiccup confirmed, with all the sorrow.

"Such a pity." Snotlout pretended to cry.

"And what would we even call them?" Hiccup asked, "Asslegs? Fishtrid?"

"One of the greater mysteries of our time." Snotlout sobbed.

The two boys looked at each other, fake tears welling up in their eyes, and then burst out laughing. Hiccup was clutching his sides, and Snotlout was rolling on the ground while muttering, "Asslegs," to himself. It took them a few minutes to settle down, but once they were, the sun had completely set.

"Well," Hiccup observed, wiping tears from the laughter from his eyes, "I guess we'd better go meet up the others for supper, huh?"

"One second," Snotlout gasped, "I don't think I can get up yet."

* * *

 _Astrid strode through the village, her axe slung comfortably over her shoulder, and a small but confident smile on her face._

" _Look at her," Snotlout breathed from outside the window of the forge._

" _She's like a goddess," Hiccup added, setting down his work._

" _Yeah, a goddess that could kill something."_

" _Like you," Hiccup smirked, picking up a dagger that needed to be sharpened._

 _Snotlout snatched the dagger from Hiccup, "I'd gladly let her kill me," he sighed, pretending to stab himself in the chest. "That way her beautiful face would be the last thing I see."_

 _Hiccup laughed, "And I'd gladly_ not _let her kill me, so I can see her more often."_

 _Snotlout threw the dagger to the side, "I'd like to change my answer."_

" _Ha, too late," Hiccup taunted, picking up the dagger again. "You have to die now!"_

" _Ha, ha, very funny, Hiccup," Snotlout droned, "I only have to die if she_ wants _me to. Obviously."_

 _Hiccup rolled his eyes, and went back to his work, sharpening weapons from the previous dragon attack._

" _Hey, Hiccup," Snotlout piped, "Dare contest?"_

" _I have to work," Hiccup reminded his cousin._

" _Sounds good, I dare you," Snotlout trailed off, ignoring his cousin's words, "to talk to Astrid."_

 _Hiccup dropped the sword he was working on, the loud clanging causing Snotlout to laugh. "S-seriously, Snotlout. I h-h-have to work," Hiccup stuttered._

" _Come on, you wouldn't even have to leave the forge, she's coming over here."_

" _What?" Hiccup cried, trying to pick up the sword with his now shaking hands._

 _Astrid appeared in the forge window, and set her axe down. Hiccup smiled awkwardly. Astrid and Hiccup made eye contact for a brief moment, before she quickly looked away, turning to face Snotlout._

" _Snotface, tell your cousin to sharpen my axe." She muttered nonchalantly, though there was a slight waver in her voice. And with that, she strode away._

" _Your cousin," Snotlout laughed tauntingly._

" _Snotface," Hiccup shot back, placing the sword back on the grinding wheel._

 _They stood in silence for a few minutes, Hiccup focusing very much on sharpening the sword, and Snotlout awkwardly standing there. Finally, the sword was done, and Hiccup spoke up._

" _Do you think she'll ever talk to me again?" He asked, picking up her axe._

" _Maybe?" Snotlout responded, trying to sound positive._

 _Hiccup sighed, putting the axe down. "I should just face the facts," he moaned, "If she hasn't spoken to me in four years, she probably won't speak to me again."_

" _Four years?" Snotlout exclaimed, "Sweet mother of Thor, it's really been four years?"_

 _Hiccup glared at his cousin, "Yes, Snotlout, it has. Thank you for the sympathy."_

" _Look, I'm not trying to be rude or anything," Snotlout added quickly, "but I think my reaction isn't too uncalled for. I mean, Berk's a small island, how can you_ not _speak to someone even_ once _in four years?"_

" _I don't know," Hiccup growled, "it just happens, okay?"_

 _Snotlout stared at his cousin for a moment, trying to come up with a response. "You're right," he finally said quietly, "I'm sorry for my outburst."_

 _Hiccup sighed, "No, you're right," he mumbled, shaking his head, "Your reaction was justified. And it's not really my fault, right?" He asked hopefully, picking the axe up again._

" _Right," Snotlout quickly agreed, "Well, I'll leave you to it. I don't wanna bother you anymore. See ya."_

" _Bye," Hiccup muttered, turning as Snotlout walked away._

 _Hiccup sighed again, running his finger over the blade. It was incredibly dull._ Astrid must've put off getting it sharpened, _Hiccup thought sadly,_ She wants to avoid me _that_ much.

* * *

"Okay, we can go now." Snotlout finally stood up, "Race ya!"

Hiccup was about to argue this, and call out "wait up," but he saw that Snotlout was running dramatically slowly. Hiccup burst out laughing, and followed suit. Snotlout noticed this, and picked up his pace. Hiccup copied, and this continued, the two of them running faster and faster, while still flailing their arms around, and taking unrealistically large steps. Their laughter grew, and by the time they reached the watchtower where they were to have their meal, they collapsed on the ground with fits of laughter. Again, they took quite a few minutes to settle down.

Hiccup sat up and rubbed a stitch in his side, "Ugh, remind me to never run while laughing ever again," he mumbled.

Snotlout glanced up at the tower, "They can probably all hear us."

Hiccup was simultaneously embarrassed, and finding this incredibly comical. "Nooooo," he laughed.

Snotlout looked very sternly at his cousin. "Don't you start again, or I will too."

Hiccup nodded soberly as he stifled a snicker.

Each taking a deep breath, they walked up the stairs of the watch tower, finding that they were the last people to arrive. Gobber glared at the two, and only gave so much as a grunt to acknowledge their presence, and then continued on with his speech.

"As I was saying, tonight, I'm not going to ask you all what went wrong in the ring today." Gobber glared at each of the teens. "I think we can all come an agreement that everything went wrong." The recruits dropped their heads, as they solemnly thought over their mistakes, though the twins could be heard sniggering quietly.

"I expect tomorrow will be a different story. Now, eat up." Gobber passed around roasting sticks, and grabbed himself a chicken from a box of meat he had brought up. He skewered the bird and held it over the fire, gesturing for the recruits to do the same. Once they were all settled, Gobber went in with his story about how he lost his arm and his leg. Hiccup smirked as Gobber started off explaining how a Monstrous Nightmare took his arm – he had heard the original story. Gobber had actually lost his arm in an accident at the forge, and the leg to a Gronkle, but he loved embellishing, especially to the children, who weren't alive at the time.

Snotlout, apparently, had not heard the original story before, or even the embellished one, and was extremely shocked and furious to hear how Gobber had lost his limbs. "I swear, I'm so angry right now," Snotlout had snarled, "I'll avenge your beautiful hand _and_ your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight. With my face."

Hiccup didn't know how to feel about this. After seeing Toothless earlier that day, he knew that the dragons weren't inherently bad, but it was true that they did bad things. But before he could come to a conclusion about how to feel, Gobber said something that caught Hiccup off guard.

"It's the wings and the tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon."

Toothless was missing part of his tail.

Before Hiccup could even think, he got up, and went to the forge. He couldn't let Toothless die. He had to get Toothless his tail back.

* * *

Astrid finally glanced up when she saw Hiccup leave. He looked ill or something. _I should check on him, right?_ She was getting up, when she caught herself, and forced herself to sit back down. She couldn't spend time like this worrying about Hiccup. Time spent thinking about him was time wasted.

* * *

Snotlout stared after Hiccup as he left, before realizing he must be going to work on the invention he had mentioned earlier. He mentally laughed, remembering all the times Hiccup had spontaneously left during a meal, or a training exercise Snotlout had forced him to do, to go write some equation down. Snotlout smirked, and made a mental note to check on him later, as he's gone on a walk during the night several times, and found Hiccup asleep over his plans in the forge, and charcoal all over his face. _Maybe I can write something on his forehead tonight._

* * *

 **AN: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed reading! Let me know in the comments!**

 **Also, let me plug my Instagram for a minute: It's really good HTTYD memes, I think you'll like it, it's googlegravityfanfics**


	11. Part 2 - Chapter 10

**AN: Here's the next chapter. It's a bit of a continuation on the last one.**

 **Responding to reviews:**

 **Aaquater: Thanks! :) And thanks for always commenting such nice things, it's always a highlight of my day!**

 **HighKings-Ruin: Ooh, don't you worry. It's gonna be a long wait (and for that, I'm really sorry) but it is coming.**

 **And now, on with the chapter!**

* * *

Hiccup scribbled down the last of his plans. He took a step back, surveying the rough sketch of the tail. From further back, it looked better, which was a relief. As Hiccup had been writing down notes and measurements, and drawing all the bits and pieces, it looked more and more like a mess. All his plans were, and this usually didn't concern him, but Hiccup knew that this invention couldn't mess up like all his other ones had. Giving the plans a nod of satisfaction, he set to work.

As much as he could, he used scrap pieces. Gobber wasn't too strict on inventory, and was used to Hiccup taking pieces here and there, but he wanted to keep as low profile as possible. He couldn't bear to think what they would do to Toothless if they found out.

It wasn't long before he set into groove, working comfortably, yet efficiently. The more he worked, the more he could see Toothless flying again. He would grin, and set his head back down again, and continued measuring leather, or welding pieces.

Hiccup found working in the forge to be quite calming. After a while, most of his tasks became muscle memory, reflex even. He could often begin to daydream, and think about projects or ideas for hours, and still find that he'd completed his work for the day. Even projects that required lots concentration were therapeutic to Hiccup. To focus on one task, and block everything out. To watch the metal form and change exactly how he liked, Hiccup found it to be –

Someone shoved him by the shoulders. "Hey cuz."

Hiccup fell to the ground, the rod of hot metal he was working on falling an inch from his arm. Hiccup stared at the ground in shock for a moment, hyperventilating slightly. After a moment, he turned around to face his cousin.

"What in Thor's name, Snotlout?" Hiccup forced himself to take a deep breath. "First of all," he continued after he regained his composure, "ow."

"Dramatic, much?" Snotlout laughed.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, continuing, "Second of all, how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me? Especially in the forge?"

"Obviously not enough," Snotlout snickered.

Hiccup stood up carefully, "You're gonna kill me one of these times." He unconsciously rubbed his hand from the last time he had been burnt.

"Cool, cool," Snotlout muttered, "So, can I know what you're working on now?"

Hiccup hesitated, wondering how he could explain the bits and pieces in front of him. "Just something I've been thinking on. Not sure if it'll work. Lot's of moving parts. Very complicated. He glanced at his cousin's face, to see if he was satisfied. He was not. "Still in the early stages. You wouldn't be able to test it any time soon."

Snotlout brightened, "I get to test it?"

"Maybe." Hiccup thought of Snotlout and Toothless meeting. "But maybe not."

Snotlout stares at the boy for a minute. "Let me know when you've made up your mind. Don't work to late again."

Hiccup forced a laugh, "Okay. Good night."

Snotlout nodded and waved, and left the forge. Hiccup let out a huge sigh of relief. _That was too close for comfort._ He glanced down at the rod at his feet, still red hot. Shaking his head, he grabbed a pair of tongs, picked up the metal, and continued with his work. It wasn't long before Hiccup entered his trance again.

Watching the metal form and change exactly how he liked, Hiccup found it to be calming. He particularly enjoyed working on ceremonial knives and swords, something he had only been allowed to work on for the past year. Gobber said he had an eye for detail. Hiccup didn't know if this was true or not, but he felt incredibly satisfied after finishing one of the blades. In his free time, he even found himself sketching out family insignias, the more detail the better.

Hiccup glanced down at his work, which he was almost surprised to see was nearly done. It was all incredibly rudimentary. Hiccup didn't want to put too much effort into the tail until he knew it would work. But maybe, if Toothless would let him, Hiccup could make a nicer looking one. Hiccup smiled, and began fitting the pieces together. _Maybe._

* * *

 _Hiccup was awoken by the sounds of a horn. The sounds of_ the _horn. The horn announcing a dragon attack._

 _He bolted out of his bed, and ran downstairs. His father was putting on his boots, readying himself for the attack. Stoick looked up at the sounds of his son's footsteps. "You're staying in here," he muttered, pulling on his other boot._

" _But, dad," Hiccup tried to argue._

 _His father stood up. "Hiccup, I will not have you killed."_

" _Dad, I'll be ten in a year!" Hiccup protested, "When can I go out?"_

 _Stoick grabbed his axe from by the door. "When I know you'll be safe – when you've trained."_

" _But-"_

" _Son, we'll speak about this later." And with that, Stoick went out the door._

 _Hiccup sighed, sitting down at the table. "When can I train then?" He muttered to himself. He paused for a moment, as if expecting his father to respond. "Of course," Hiccup grumbled, "Stoic." He sighed, and got up, beginning to pace. Outside, he could hear the sounds of roaring dragons, of yelling Vikings, the sounds of metal plunging into flesh, and fire catching. He had heard these sounds a hundred times before, but never once had he seen them. Never once had he been near a dragon fight. Hiccup supposed it was, really, for the best; he didn't want to get hurt. But Hiccup did wish that he could at least be outside, while being safe. He didn't like being shut away. Hiccup paused his pacing, looking at the back door, and idea forming in his head._

Not for long, _he told himself,_ and I'll stay out of the way.

 _He pushed the door open, looking around cautiously. Convinced that the cost was clear, he ran to the tree line, watching from the cover of the forest._

 _He had expected to see dragons descending upon houses, and starting fights. He expected them to look as ferocious as they did in the paintings and tapestries in the Great Hall. He expected them to be ruthless, and unrelenting. But they were going after animals, not people. They looked quite docile, until they were attacked. And they seemed to know when they were defeated, and quickly retreated. Some dragons were even protecting others that were trapped. At the very least, Hiccup had expected the Vikings and the dragons to show the same amounts of anger, but Hiccup didn't even find that to be true._

* * *

 _Alrighty then," Gobber huffed, glancing around the forge, "I think that's everything you need to know for now." Gobber handed Hiccup a broom. "Get started."_

 _Hiccup took the broom, but raised his eyebrows. "You want me sweeping?"_

" _Of course! Gets dusty here too, you know."_

 _Hiccup frowned. "I thought the point of me apper- appen- being your helper was so I could help be a blacksmith."_

 _Gobber gave a toothy grin. "That's right. But your apprenticing starts with sweeping." Hiccup narrowed his eyes, and opened his mouth to argue, but Gobber cut him off. "No one starts at the top, Hiccup. You gotta work for it."_

 _Hiccup huffed and began sweeping. As he was doing so, he examined the blacksmith's stall. It was small, and extremely cluttered. Off to the side, heating the room quite considerably. There was the window with the counter, where there were about a dozen of broken weapons waiting for repairs. Off to the side were a smaller pile of finished weapons, which Hiccup assumed were waiting to be picked up. Along the walls and in a few barrels placed sporadically throughout the forge, were tons of weapons – axes, swords, daggers, hammers, maces, you name it, it was here. Hiccup found himself staring at one in confusion. It looked like a spear, but the blade came from the side, before going into a point._

" _What's that one, Gobber?" Hiccup asked, pointing at the strange weapon._

 _Gobber turned, following Hiccup's finger to the weapon at hand, "Ah, that's an atgeir. Like a spear, but not really. Strange one. Not too common, but effective. They say it sings when it anticipates blood."_

 _Hiccup was taken aback by that last part. Before he knew it, he was imagining a dragon being stabbed with one of these atgeirs, the spear proudly ringing with every blow. He cringed, looking away, but everywhere he looked, he saw swords, and axes; he saw the weapons being used on the dragons, and being used on him. He felt lightheaded._

" _You okay?" Gobber asked when he saw the blood drain from the boy's face._

" _I don't feel good," Hiccup mumbled._

" _You go home," Gobber instructed, "Your no help when you're sick like this."_

 _Hiccup nodded mutely, and ran home, slamming the door behind him. He slid to the floor, and tears escaped his eyes._

* * *

 _The days went by, turning into weeks, and those turned into months. Hiccup went to work at the forge day in, and day out. He felt terrible for the first while, but eventually, a tolerance of sorts was built. The more he worked, the more skills he acquired. Gobber was pleased to find that Hiccup was a natural, and Hiccup's daily work began to consist of sharpening, repairing, and even forging new blades. Snotlout often visited. The first time he came, Hiccup had asked him about the weapons on the wall._

" _They look cool," Snotlout had responded._

" _Sure, but what do you feel?" Hiccup had questioned._

 _Snotlout looked at the swords and axes with a gleam in his eyes. "Seeing the weapons up there," he muttered dreamily, "knowing that I can use them, once I've trained enough, it fills me with determination."_

 _Hiccup had frowned at this. He didn't like thinking about the dragons being cut. He didn't want to get cut with them. Well, on accident he had been cut many times, but the thought of someone purposefully swinging an axe at him, or something like that, it was enough to send shivers down his spine._

* * *

The moment Snotlout reached his house, his smile from his conversation with Hiccup vanished. He took a deep breath, and entered, quickly running up to his room, while keeping his eyes down. There was nothing he wanted to do less right now, than be reminded of his father.

He crawled in his bed, but sleep eluded him. He tossed and turned, the sounds of his father's voice as he yelled at him filling Snotlout's head. He groaned, and forced him not to think about it. He remembered the time he and Hiccup decided to go hunting for trolls. Snotlout smiled.

They had grabbed some old nets from the docks, and some cheese, and went out to the woods. Hiccup was explaining the importance of a strong trap, all while keeping a straight face. Snotlout found it hilarious. Hiccup had been so excited that Snotlout was going to help him. Snotlout thought the idea was stupid, seeing as trolls don't exist, but he kept his thoughts quiet when he saw how happy his younger cousin was. They had spent the day waiting in the bushes for a troll to come by. They told jokes, and teased each other, and talked about everything from Dagur's visits, to the best way to eat mutton. They were laughing the entire time, save the times Hiccup heard a snapping twig, and made Snotlout shut up, so they wouldn't scare the 'troll' away. They ended up seeing four deer, and a gross number of rats. Hiccup was disappointed, but Snotlout suggested that trolls slept during the day, and that seemed to cheer him up.

It was a happy memory for Snotlout, and thinking about it helped him fall into deep, but dreamless sleep.

* * *

 **AN: Thanks for reading, guys! If you want to, please review, that would be great! Even better, follow me on Instagram, googlegravityfanfics I'm almost at a hundred followers there!**


	12. Part 2 - Chapter 11

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is a bit late! I just came out of my exam week, so I've been quite busy with that. I also will be busy for the next month or two, so I don't know how many chapters will be published during that time, let alone on time.**

 **That being said, here are the responses, and then I'll get on with the chapter.**

 **Aaquater: Great imagery! And I agree, Hiccup sure does have his work set out for him.**

 **Surayo: Thanks! I usually prefer Snotlout as an antagonist as well, but I love seeing him and Hiccup being friends. It reminds me of the five minutes they were nice to each other in the eleventh book (if you've read the series).**

* * *

Hiccup woke up right at dawn the next morning, with only one thing on his mind. (Hopefully,) today, Toothless would fly.

Hiccup grabbed the tail he had made last night, ran down to the cellar, grabbed a bag of fish, and ran, or at least, walked as fast a he could while lugging a bag of fish and a tail, to the cove. Upon entering, Toothless gave him an inquisitive stare. Hiccup figured he wanted to know what was carrying. So, Hiccup set down the tail. Then, he put down the bag, and pushed it over, and the fish came pouring out. Toothless began sniffing it right away, and Hiccup laughed.

"Why you want to eat that is beyond me," Hiccup half-laughed, half-tried not to gag. The not too distant memory of Toothless forcing Hiccup to eat regurgitated fish causing him to shudder. "You're not sharing this time," Hiccup warned at the dragon, still sniffing around.

"That's some salmon," Hiccup pointed with his toe, as Toothless was appearing to have a hard time identifying the fish. "There's some _Icelandic_ cod. Don't confuse it with regular cod, this stuff is a step above. And, here," Hiccup kicked one of the larger ones. "Is a whole smoked eel."

Toothless drew back sharply and began to growl.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Hiccup exclaimed, his eyes wide. He picked up the eel. Toothless hissed. Hiccup frowned and held it closer. Toothless looked like he was about to pass out. Hiccup quickly threw it away. "It's okay," he soothed, "I don't like eels either."

Toothless seemed to have calmed down and began cautiously eating the fish. "See, there you go," Hiccup mumbled softly. He picked up the tail, and slowly made his way over to Toothless' tail. "Don't mind me," he almost sang as he set out the tail. "I'm just back here, minding my own business." He went to fasten the artificial tail to the real one, but Toothless moved himself over. "I'm helping you, y'know," Hiccup muttered, holding Toothless' tail with his knees while trying to fasten on the other tail. As he was about to fasten the buckle, Toothless began thumping his tail. "Come on," Hiccup groaned, fumbling with the buckle. "This will help you to fly again," he pointed out, finally finishing with the tail.

And Toothless took off immediately.

Hiccup bounced precariously on the end of the tail, holding tightly on to whatever he could, and willing himself not to look down. After a few seconds that felt like hours, he turned around to see Toothless flying towards the cove's wall, and almost instantaneously, they began to fall. Hiccup whipped around to see that the fake tail had not yet opened. He pulled on it, the tail springing to life. Hiccup looked back around but realized that Toothless was only going straight. _He can't control where he goes,_ Hiccup thought to himself with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He pushed the fake tail downwards, and Toothless began to fly back into the cove. The dragon turned his head around to look Hiccup in the eye, before the Night Fury thrashed his tail. Hiccup fell into the lake below, with Toothless plummeting in quickly afterwards. Despite the rocky ride, Hiccup found himself cheering.

Toothless had gotten into the air.

Hiccup just had to help him.

He glanced up at the sky, and, realizing that training would be starting soon, Hiccup called a good-bye to Toothless, grabbed the leftover eel, and skipped on his way back to his house. _Toothless is going to fly,_ kept ringing through his head. He quickly ate some bread for breakfast, humming between bites as he started thinking through some calculations for the tail. He figured he could control it by pulling on a rope, _but I'd have to be with him then._ He'd probably have to make a saddle.

Hiccup frowned, realizing how hard it would to keep Toothless a secret, especially since he would have to be with the dragon in order for him to fly. _Difficult, definitely,_ he thought to himself as he walked to training, _but worth it._

* * *

Snotlout paced the arena. It was completely bare, save for a few buckets of water off to the side. He wondered what dragon they'd be facing today. Despite wanting to fight dragons like Nightmares, he felt that it would probably be better if they wound up working with Terrors. That couldn't be _too_ disastrous, he figured.

Hiccup walked in with a huge smile on his face. Snotlout was taken aback by this. He supposed the invention his cousin had been working on night turned out to be a success, but even then, Hiccup usually wouldn't be so… smile-y.

"Why are you so happy?" He asked, walking up to the younger boy.

"I'm not so happy," Hiccup replied without missing a beat, "I'm Hiccup."

Snotlout stifled a laugh, "That's such a bad joke, Hiccup. Why do you use it all the time?"

Hiccup snickered, "It's such a bad joke, Snotlout," he retorted, "Why do you laugh at it every time?"

Snotlout laughed loudly but stopped when he made eye-contact with Gobber.

* * *

"Let's get started then," the older man grunted. The teens formed a line in front of them, and Gobber paired them off, giving everyone a bucket of water. Then, he turned and opened the gates to the next dragon pen.

Immediately, bright green gas filled the ring. The recruits coughed and squinted their eyes, trying to see anything in the green fog.

Gobber's voice rung through the arena, "Remember, a wet dragon head can't produce fire. Make sure to get the right one, though.

Hiccup shook slightly, his back to Fishlegs, his partner. Not too far away, he heard Snotlout call out a, "there!" and Ruffnut and Astrid shrieking in response. There was a loud smacking noise, and then Tuffnut screaming. There was moment of eerie silence before Tuffnut began screaming again ("I am hurt, I am very much hurt!") and he ran past Hiccup and Fishlegs. As if that was its cue, one of the Zippelback's heads hovered towards Fishlegs. The boy quickly threw his water at the head, effectively dousing it. The dragon opened its mouth, and gas began to leak out.

"Oh," Fishlegs laughed nervously, "wrong head." The Zippelback switched from leaking gas, to spraying gas, directly at Fishlegs' face. The boy screamed and ran away.

The other head slithered into view, about three feet above Hiccup's head. He gulped and threw the bucket of water as hard as he could, though it only made it have the distance. The Zippelback seemed to grin at his attempts, and came closer in.

Hiccup backed up slowly, but he knew he could only do so for so long. _I can't attack them,_ he thought to himself, mentally running through his options, _and I don't think I can outrun them._ He glanced around, the gas clearing slightly, but still not enough for him to see where the others were. _I could call for help, but I don't think that would help in the long run._ He ran his hand through his hair, when he felt something slimy on his shoulder.

The eel.

 _Toothless hated it,_ he thought desperately, _Is it too much to guess the Zippelbacks would feel the same?_ He pulled out the fish, his eyes squeezed shut as he held it forward. The Zippelback hissed, and he opened his eyes slowly. It was retreating.

He stepped forward, the eel firmly in front of him. "Back," he called, moving faster now. The Zippelback continued backwards until it came into it's cage, "Good," Hiccup muttered. The gas was clearing now. He glanced at the eel, wondering what he would do with it. He threw it into the corner of the cage. "Now think about what you've done." He grinned and began to push the doors shut.

Once they were firmly closed, he turned around. He had to fight not to burst into laughter. Everyone was staring at him in shock. Fishlegs even dropped his bucket without noticing. Hiccup felt a new bought of laughter bubbling up. He had to get out, quick. "Well," he muttered, "I'm gonna, um, go now…"

He awkwardly walked towards the exit of the arena. He felt everyone's eyes on him, and it took every ounce of him to stop from laughing. Tears were even welling up in his eyes from the effort.

He was halfway to his house when he finally let it out. His sides hurt, as well as his cheeks, and tears were streaming down his face. He quickly wiped them up and tried to look normal as he went about the rest of his walk.

He heard someone running up behind him. He turned around to see Snotlout, panting slightly.

"How," he huffed, "did you do that?"

Hiccup shook his head earnestly, "I have no idea," he laughed, "I just hoped for the best."

* * *

Astrid roared as she forced her axe into a tree. "That's you, Snotlout," she muttered angrily, "for hitting me with the water instead of the dragon."

She turned, falling into a somersault, and then throwing her axe at a tree further away, "That's you, Fishlegs, for getting the wrong head."

She heaved it out, aiming her axe at a new tree, "And that's Hiccup, for-" but she stopped short. She really shouldn't be thinking this way about the other trainees.

"I am a Warrior," she muttered, pacing now, "It is my duty to protect the citizens from Berk, not too harm them."

She forced herself to breath deeply, "You have to be better than this, Hofferson," she scolded herself. She groaned and sat down. "It's your duty," she repeated, "you have to. They know you're going to. You can't prove them wrong." She leaned backwards until she was lying down. She felt tears filling her eyes. "You're not crying about this," she warned, "this is real life. Deal with it." Still, it wasn't long before her cheeks were wet.

She groaned and stood up, wiping her face. "Stop crying," she muttered. She sighed, glancing at her axe warily, before setting it down.

"Why can't everyone just protect themselves," she mumbled.

'Are you saying you don't want anyone defending your grandmother,' she imagined her father saying.

She grinned slightly, "Have you seen my grandmother?" she asked, trying to ignore the fact that she was talking to herself in the middle of the forest.

'Bad example,' her father would've said, 'Do you want Gothi defending herself?'

"Okay, so we protect the old. Good enough?" But she shook her head.

'For Thor's sake,' her father would say, 'just protect everyone.'

She grinned at the ridiculousness of the situation, and picked up her axe, and continued her training. Still, the thought nagged her, _You have to protect everyone._

* * *

 **AN: How was that? Good, I hope.**

 **I'll see you guys… sometime. No idea when I'll be posting next.**

 **But I still will post updates weekly on my Instagram, googlegravityfanfics**


	13. Part 2 - Chapter 12

**AN: Hey guys, I'm back *cough* after a month. I'm super sorry. I was in my school play, and my school's really into their plays, and we go all out, so I had a lot of late practices, and a lot of performances. I'd like to say I'm back for good now, but I'll be gone on a mission's trip, and then I've got some other stuff going on. I'll write when I can, I promise.**

 **Before I respond to the last chapter's comments, I just want to thank the people who followed this story during my hiatus. You guys rock!**

 **Anyways, here are the responses:**

 **Aaquater: It would be an interesting idea though, to see how Hiccup would've done in training without Toothless. And I think it's important to get in Astrid's head a little bit. She's constantly painted as being so confident and sure of herself. Is it bad that I enjoy making her struggle a little? It makes her seem more human…**

 **Anonymous Noob the 2nd: You're welcome, I guess. I'll still have some more flashbacks (sorry) but they'll have more content in between.**

* * *

Hiccup wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked down at his work. While others may not have took notice to the contraption, Hiccup was quite proud of himself. He had been working for hours since training that morning to make a pedal controlled pulley system to control Toothless' tail. What he had in front of him wasn't glamorous, but he figured it might work for now. He glanced out the window, and, seeing the sky was still bright out, he figured he could work on a saddle of sorts.

Leather work was soothing for Hiccup. He knew that Snotlout would mock him for ages if he found out, but Hiccup quite liked sewing. Of course, he didn't at first, when his stiches were sloppy and uneven, but now, it was satisfying to see the uniform lines of thin leather.

It wasn't long before the saddle was done, with a simple but effective arrow design worked into it. He held it up proudly and glanced out the window again.

The village was deserted. All the adults were on the expedition, or probably getting drunk at the Mead Hall. The teens were most likely continuing their training down at the ring. Hiccup's stomach knotted for a moment as he wondered if he should be with them. He glanced around again, and then back at his work. Temptation to try out the new system won over, and he gathered his things quickly, and ran towards the forest.

It wasn't long before he reached the cove, and any guilt towards his lack of training was gone as he saw Toothless prancing around. He rushed over, nearly tripping over the cords and saddle. Toothless gave what sounded like a laugh, and started to run away, forcing Hiccup to chase him. Hiccup laughed, setting down his things and sprinting after the dragon. Toothless glanced back at the boy and slowed down to let him catch up. Hiccup jumped on the dragon, pretending to tackle him. Toothless prodded him with his paws before pushing him off completely. Hiccup laughed, and then retrieved his things. "You wanna fly, Toothless?"

Toothless seemed to understand what Hiccup was saying and stood still as the boy put on the saddle and attached the pulleys and strings. After what only felt like minutes, Hiccup was done. He grinned, "Let's go, bud."

Hiccup climbed onto the saddle and slid his feet into the pedals. He flicked them into the different positions, looking back to see the effects and then nodded. He patted Toothless' neck, and immediately, the dragon jumped into the air, though they were unsteady. Hiccup craned his neck around to get a view of the tail and pushed his heels down. In an instant, they levelled out. Hiccup turned around, seeing the rock wall coming into position soon, and flicked his left foot down. The tail flipped up, turning them into a curve around. Hiccup moved his heel back down again to level out, but Toothless caught sight of a bird across the cove. The dragon turned, and Hiccup flicked his right foot upwards to turn with him, but instead, he went flying into the cove for the second time that day.

Hiccup broke the surface, spluttering for air, and made eye-contact with Toothless, who had landed safely on the shore. The boy narrowed his eyes, and the dragon began to laugh again.

* * *

Hiccup's hair was now dry, and the sun was beginning to set. He was back at the forge in his back room, papers sprawled out across his desk. He was hurriedly writing out diagrams and equations and notes, writing down every new thought as it came to him before he could forget it. But the more he wrote, the more he came back to the same thought – he shouldn't fall off Toothless anymore. He yawned but ignored his need for sleep. Grabbing some new parchment, he started writing out plans and diagrams, making his best guesses for measurements, as he decided to leave the saddle at the cove.

* * *

A door slammed, waking Hiccup from the slumber he hadn't realized fell upon him. "Hiccup you in here?" Snotlout called from the main forge area.

"Back here," Hiccup replied with a yawn.

Snotlout poked his head through the door, and a look of amusement filled his face. "You fell asleep again?"

"What? No," Hiccup stammered, "why?"

"You've got charcoal on your face," Snotlout laughed. He stepped into the room, glancing at the papers, "what're those for."

Hiccup's eyes widened as he followed his cousin's stare. "Uh, for, what's it called? Keeps you from falling?" Snotlout furrowed his brows. "Harness! I figured we could use them for repairing roofs, make sure no one falls off."

"No one falls off the roofs," Snotlout pointed out.

"Bucket did," Hiccup stumbled, "that's why he wears the bucket now."

Snotlout seemed to consider this before shrugging, "Alright. I'm gonna hit the sac, you?"

"Guess I should," Hiccup chuckled nervously as he wiped the smudged coal on his face.

"'Kay, see ya," Snotlout laughed, and left the small room. Hiccup waited a few moments to make sure his cousin was gone before letting out a long sigh. _That was too close._

* * *

 **AN: That's it for now, guys. I'm sorry it's short, but I really wanted to get something out this week. Hope you enjoyed!**


	14. Part 2 - Chapter 13

**AN: I'm back… after a month… again… sorry… Hopefully I can be more consistent after this. At least for a month. Hold me to that.**

 **Comment responses:**

 **DinoBoy13: THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUU**

 **WickedInk: Thanks! I'm hoping to get back to my weekly posting!**

* * *

The wind whipped through Hiccup's hair. He grinned, flicking back his heel to go into a turn. Toothless anticipated this and turned as well. Hiccup was thrown from the saddle, falling suddenly, the ground flying quickly towards him. He squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to look as he met his end, when he was suddenly jerked sideways by his waist. Toothless hit the ground with a dull thud, and Hiccup was pulled with the dragon, landing harshly. All he wanted to do was lay down and never move again, but Toothless shifted, pulling him with him. _At least the harness works,_ Hiccup thought sarcastically, as he was pulled this way and that as Toothless was rolling in the grass. He grabbed hold of the rope and unhooked it from his belt with a sigh of relief. He sat up to face the Night Fury, who looked like a child, playing in the grass, sniffling, with his eyes dilated. "Holy offspring of lightning and death, my ass," Hiccup muttered, grabbing a handful of the grass and breathing in it's sweet aroma. He prodded Toothless with his foot, "get up. You're as high as a . . . dragon."

* * *

 _Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, no,_ Hiccup mentally screamed as he ran across the arena. The Gronkle they were training against today was flying after him. He risked a glance behind him as he turned a corner. It was coming up fast, but only as fast as a Gronkle that's been in a pen for the past week could go. He remembered the last time he encountered this Gronkle. He gulped. _Second time's a charm,_ he thought to himself sardonically, _I am definitely going to die. And after what a life I lived…_ His life flashed before his eyes.

Three years old. A fishing trip. He has his stuffed dragon, looking like the demon it was. He fights off tears and throws it into the stormy waters. "Hiccup," his father yells, but he's pretty proud of himself.

Ten years old. Hunting for trolls with Snotlout. They're in a tree, waiting for movement, but there is none. Hiccup's sad, but Snotlout had a good time. That makes Hiccup feel better.

This morning. Toothless acting ridiculous…

…because of the grass.

He pulls a wad from out of his pocket, holding his arm out. The Gronkle is immediately there, ready to attack, when it smells the sweet aroma of the plant.

* * *

"That was amazing!"

"How did you know to do that?"

"Can you teach me?"

Hiccup was swarmed by his classmates. They were all pushing and jostling him, as if it were a contest to see who could stand the closest, or who could bother him the most. He grinned nervously – he wasn't used to being the center of attention, and he wasn't sure if he liked it. He scratched his ear and chuckled, ducking his head, "uh, sorry guys, I think I left my axe in the ring." He glanced up, checking if the lie landed, but turned and ran before he could tell. He wanted to be out of there as soon as possible.

As he ran out, he bumped into Astrid, making her seethe. _Oh, Mr. Popular can't look up to face me now?_ She felt her hands curl up into fists, her knuckles quickly turning white, and red crescents forming on her palms. _He didn't even bring his axe to training. Why's he in such a hurry to get out of here?_ She sneaked a glance back, but he was gone. She shook her head. _What a son of a-_

* * *

"Good boy," Hiccup cooed, scratching Toothless on the top of the head, "You saved my life back in the ring, you know that?" Toothless warbled, leaning his head into the scratch. "You like that, huh?" Hiccup asked, scratching him under the chin. "You deserve it, bud," he mumbled, "if it weren't for you," he scratched Toothless' chin, "I'd be deader than a doornail." He scratched his neck, "though I guess that doesn't make se-" Toothless flopped over, as if he had, as Hiccup had just described, died. Hiccup stared in horror before realizing the dragon was not only breathing but smiling too. He looked at his hand – nothing there. "You like scratches on the neck?" Toothless warbled again.

* * *

 _Is this going to be a theme?_ Hiccup thought to himself, as again, he ran for his life across the stadium, another dragon on his heels. This time, a Deadly Nadder. This one hadn't come as close to killing him, but Astrid had. He grimaced at the thought. He ducked behind a barrier. Looking up, he saw that Snotlout was now engaging the dragon, and he wasn't looking so good. He sighed a sigh of relief and got up. But at that exact moment, the Nadder struck Snotlout in the stomach with it's tail, leaving its head pointing straight at Hiccup. _I don't think I'm in it's blind spot._ And he was not.

The dragon charged at him. He groaned inwardly. He thought back to the neck scratch and hoped it would work for this dragon as well. _Not likely,_ he thought to himself, but still he did not move. He took a deep breath, calming his senses. Vaguely, he heard Astrid yelling. He locked eyes with the Nadder. It looked at him as if it were challenging him. He mustered as much trust and vulnerability he could show through his eyes. The Nadder slowed and stop in front of him. He exhaled slowly, reaching out his hand, and scratched the dragon. It keeled over.

* * *

"No way," Tuffnut breathed, leaning across the table.

"Yeah," Astrid smirked, "that poor Nightmare didn't know what was coming at it."

"I still can't believe that you saw a Monstrous Nightmare in a netter trap," Fishlegs said in awe, "why wouldn't it just burn its way out?"

"Are you accusing me of lying?" Astrid snapped, "I know what I saw."

"No," Fishlegs hurriedly corrected himself, "I swear! I just-" He looked up as everyone left the table. Seeing the cause of the exodus made him squeal. He got up, following the others.

Astrid glared, turning to find Hiccup swarmed by all the Vikings left on Berk. She slammed her fist on the table, dropping her head. She looked at her meal in disgust and pushed it away. She was leaving.

* * *

Hiccup glanced upwards at the rising sun. He had already been with Toothless for about an hour now and had done some great flying. Toothless and him seemed to be getting better at connecting to each other, and now their turns felt less bumpy. He smiled at the thought of Toothless being able to fly again.

The dragon was currently lying in a sun spot, eyes lazily focused on something in the distance. Hiccup figured he had some time yet before training. It was an unusually calm morning on Berk, and he was going to savour it. A glint of light reflected from his shield a few feet away hit his eye. He frowned, not wanting to get up to move it, but not wanting to go blind either. He shuffled over, picking up the shield, and slid back to his position. Toothless had perked up, now looking at one of the trees with intent. Hiccup strained his eyes trying to find what is was in the shadows, when he realized it was the glare from the shield. He grinned, moving it so the light bounced around. Toothless moved closer, crouched low to the ground, ready to pounce. Hiccup laughed, bouncing the light the opposite direction, and Toothless ran after it. The dragon bravely fought against the dot of light, but unfortunately, could not succeed. Hiccup laughed. "You're such an idiot, bud."

* * *

"Ow! Get it off! Get it off!" Tuffnut yelped as the Terrible Terror they were "fighting" attacked his face.

Hiccup laughed, thinking back to his own terror when Toothless had pounced on him. _I was so scared,_ Hiccup thought to himself with a grin, _but he's just a big cat._ He looked at the Terror with curiosity. _Are you a little cat?_ He slanted his shield, reflecting a beam of light into the dragon's eye, and then moved it towards the floor. The dragon hopped off the teen's now tender face and sniffed the light with curiosity. _You're such an idiot,_ Hiccup thought to himself with a smile. He titled the shield, so the light would point to the tiny door to the pen. The Terror eagerly followed the light, running into its enclosure. _Just a bunch of cats,_ Hiccup beamed.

* * *

 **AN: I hope that was worth the wait, guys! Teaser for next week (seriously, spam me if I don't update): Romantic flight?**


	15. Part 2 - Chapter 14

**AN: I did it! I actually posted 2 chapters two weeks in a row! Wow, I'm impressed with myself. Let's hope I can keep it up for three!**

 **Aaquater: I'm glad to know someone enjoys my comedy! And definitely, Astrid can be pretty scary!**

* * *

"Better than you ever were," Astrid mocked, slinging her axe into a tree. "Say that to me again, Tuffnut," she grunted, heaving it out of the thick wood. Her rage was boiling. No way did someone like Hiccup get to be as good as he did. "It's a trick, it has to be," she muttered, "no other way." She felt her teeth grind as she gripped her axe handle. Unable to control herself any longer, she let out a deafening yell, sprinting into a run-up for her throw. She threw her arm back, aiming, when a familiar head of auburn hair crossed her path. She stopped short, looking him over in fury.

He was carrying a large piece of woven leather and wore a complicated looking set of belts instead of his usual fur vest. "What the f-" she started to spit at him, but he cut her off, sprinting away.

She hesitated for a moment, a part of her wondering if this was even real, but soon she was after him. He took a hard turn behind a boulder. She scaled the rock to lose the distance, but he had seemingly disappeared. Rolling her eyes at his obvious trick, she jumped down the opposite side of the boulder, meeting his eyes the moment she landed.

Astrid pinned Hiccup against the rock with her axe around his neck. "What in Helheim do you think you're going?" She hissed, "Are you training with someone, is that what it is?" Hiccup struggled to gulp as he tried to think of what to respond with. "Does it involve this?" she demanded, jabbing him in the chest, where two of the belts met. "And what in Thor's name is that?" She shot a look down at the woven leather. Hiccup stared back at her, his eyes filled with fear. "Answer me!" She pressed the axe closer, "or it will be the last thing you do."

Hiccup let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in, but quickly regretted it when he realized he couldn't breath back in. His eyes shot even further open than they had been with shock, and he began to panic, trying to pull the axe off him. Astrid pinned him back again, this time with her arm, and released the pressure with the axe. Hiccup gulped in air, hyperventilating slightly.

Astrid slammed him against the boulder, "Are you gonna answer me or not, Haddock?"

Hiccup's mind swirled as he tried to come up with an explanation but shook his head when he realized there was no good way to explain everything. "I think I have to show you."

Astrid frowned but let him lead the way, knowing she could outrun him. Hiccup picked up his woven leather and started walking. He seemed sure in his steps, leading Astrid to believe that he had taken this path many times, but she noticed he was also shaking, proving that he was ashamed about what he was going to show her. _So he has been cheating,_ she decided.

* * *

Hiccups palms were sweaty. _What do I do? I can't_ actually _show her Toothless, can I?_ He risked a look back at Astrid.

She glared at him, growling, "keep it moving, I don't have all day."

Hiccup faced forward, a panicked look painted on his face. _WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo?_ His mind was completely blank, and it was worrying him. Usually he could think his way out of whatever trouble he got himself into, but he was stuck in a rut. He inwardly groaned. _I'm gonna have to tell her the truth, aren't I?_ He veered to the left.

"Are you stalling, Haddock?" Astrid spat.

 _They're all gonna find out anyways._

* * *

"I don't get it. It's just a trench."

Hiccup laughed nervously. "Not just a trench, this is where it all began."

Astrid glowered. "I'll kill you, Hiccup, right here, right now. Get on with it." She reached for her axe threateningly.

Hiccup held up his arms defensively. "Please, Astrid. You want an explanation, and I owe it to you to give you one. Just please, let me do it right." Astrid rolled her eyes but didn't argue any further.

"To be completely honest, this isn't actually the beginning. It started with the last raid. Snotlout had stolen my," he paused, not wanting to her to judge him for the names he gave his inventions, _"bola-launcher,_ and set it up to hit down a Night Fury." He stopped to study her expression for a moment. She was unimpressed, but still listening. "I knew it wasn't safe yet, Hel, it almost beheaded five people when I was making it, so I tried to stop him. But he tried to fight me off. In the struggle, I accidently set it off.

"It hit a dragon."

"No," Astrid breathed, in both wonder, and anger. It was unheard of for any of Hiccup's inventions to work. The only reason he hadn't been banned from the forge outright was because Gobber needed the assistance. But the fact that Hiccup had possibly killed a dragon? "I swear, if you're lying to me-"

"-I'm not, I swear on my life, I'm not. Please, let me continue." Astrid raised her eyebrow in skepticism.

"Fine."

"Snotlout and I went to find it. We decided to split up to cover more ground," Hiccup lied. He glanced over his shoulder, taking in a deep breath. "Follow me." He lead her over a hill and behind a boulder. "I found the dragon here. A Night Fury." He saw the disbelief in Astrid's eyes. He pointed to the broken ropes of the bola. "That's where it was."

Astrid narrowed her eyes, "It broke out?" She asked. Hiccup looked downwards, unable to meet her eye. She walked towards the ropes, inspecting the ends. _It looks too clean cut to be broken by force,_ she thought to herself, _could it's talons have done this?_ She looked back towards Hiccup. "Well," she muttered, "what happened?"

Hiccup glanced up, his face screwed up with concern and anxiety. "Don't kill me," he uttered.

Astrid stormed towards him, "I'll kill you if you don't tell me."

Hiccup sighed, dropping his head again. "I'll do you one better," he mumbled, walking away a few paces. He checked behind him to see if she was following. She was. He continued downhill, until he met the crack in the cliffside with the shield stuck in between. He took a deep breath, bracing himself for the Hel that was about to break loose. He ducked under the shield and gestured for Astrid to do the same.

She surveyed the small cove curiously. Aside from a small lake and some boulders, the places seemed to be completely bare. "What am I supposed to be seeing?"

Hiccup dropped the leather thing before he stepped forward some more, glancing around incessantly, his hands shaking. Astrid looked around, frowning as she could find anything. She placed her axe back around his throat. "Has this all been a joke to you, Hiccup?" She seethed. He opened his mouth to beg but was cut off by a deep rumble.

Astrid glanced around, her eyes meeting a great black form. Her eyes widened with shock. _The Night Fury._ She shoved Hiccup behind her, gripping her axe, ready to fight.

"No," Hiccup spluttered, scrambling to his feet. He grabbed her axe, wrenching it from her hands.

"What in Helheim are you doing?" She hissed, and he threw it behind them.

He stepped forward, his arms raised. "She's a friend." He spoke with a surprisingly commanding tone that didn't waver. The dragon calmed, but not by much. He turned to face her. "Astrid," his voice seemed less confident now, "meet Toothless." He gestured to the dragon, who snarled upon eye contact. "Toothless, meet Astrid."

Astrid's blood boiled with anger. She opened her mouth to cuss Hiccup out, to scream, to make him realize how terrible he was. But she didn't do any of those things. Instead, she slowly shook her head, and grinned sardonically. "Can't wait for everyone to meet you, Toothless." And she sprinted away.

"Shit," Hiccup muttered, running after her. Astrid wanted to laugh at him for even trying to stop her, but she instead she grinned, knowing she could laugh once he was shipped off Berk.

* * *

Hiccup fastened Toothless' saddle faster than he ever had before. The entire time, "shit, shit, shit," was his mantra. Finally finishing with the final strap, he hopped onto the dragon's back. "We've gotta stop her, bud," he muttered, throwing his feet into the pedals. Toothless sprung into the air, and it was only moments before they had caught up with the girl. Toothless dived, scooping her up into his paws.

She screamed, punching and kicking the dragon, who dropped her onto a high tree branch, and settled down on top. "Maybe not the best tactic," Hiccup hissed at the dragon.

"Hiccup," Astrid roared, her head pounding, "get me down from here!"

"Please, Astrid," Hiccup pleaded, "let me show you my perspective on this."

"I will let go of this branch. That will be on your head!"

"Astrid," Hiccup's tone softened considerably, "I've already said this, but I'll say it again: I owe you a proper explanation. Please, just let me show you."

"Oh, you've already shown me enough," Astrid scoffed.

Hiccup dropped his head. "I'll get you down." He looked back up, making eye contact. Astrid's eyes flickered as she tried to decide what she was going to do. She huffed and began to move her way closer to the dragon. Hiccup almost smiled in relief and held out his hand to help her. She slapped it away quickly, climbing onto the dragon's back unassisted.

"Down," Astrid instructed, "Now."

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked, and the dragon's wings began to unfurl. Looking straight ahead, Hiccup spoke to her, "This will be fine, trust me." The dragon rocketed upwards, and Astrid almost fell off. Hiccup whipped around, reaching his hand out fast, and grabbed her arm before she could fall too far. He jammed both feet downwards, forcing Toothless to go horizontal. Astrid seated herself again, panic shooting through her veins, though she tried not to let it show.

"I didn't mean for him to do that," Hiccup muttered, "but you should probably hold onto something."

"No shit, eh?" Astrid began to retort as Toothless suddenly dived. She fell forwards into Hiccup, instinctively grabbing his arms with an iron grip. Hiccup winced in pain, but tried to ignore it, switching the petals again so that Toothless had to level out. The dragon ignored Hiccup's wishes, though, and flung himself sideways into a tailspin. Hiccup flicked the petal, levelling, and then ushered the dragon to fly lower. Toothless snarled, and shook his head, though there wasn't much else the dragon could do. The flew lower and lower, until soon, they were above the cove again. Hiccup flicked the petals into a landing position, but Toothless angled himself, and folded his wings, sending the three of them hurtling into the lake.

Astrid gasped, quickly holding her breath before she met the icy cold water. She surfaced quickly, swimming as fast as she could for shore, and then began running again. Hiccup rubbed the water from his eyes as Toothless pounced on her.

"Hiccup!" Astrid screeched, and he quickly swam in. "Get this dragon off of me!" She yelled. Hiccup scratched his neck nervously.

"You'll tell everyone about Toothless."

Astrid narrowed her eyes. "You can't possibly expect me to keep it a secret that you've been training a dragon!"

Hiccup groaned. "I know I can't." He sighed. "Toothless, get off her." The dragon warbled uncertainly, but did as he was told, though he stood in front of the entrance, so she couldn't escape.

Astrid got up, glancing at the now blocked exit, and then turned to glare at Hiccup. "I can't believe how boar-headed you've been," she growled, reaching for her ax before remembering it was on the other side of the lake. "You know how stupid this is, right? What did you think was going to happen? That you would change my mind? Change anyone's mind? And what if your father found out? Or anyone, for that matter? Did you seriously think they would agree with you on this? They'll kill you. They'll ship you off this island in a burning boat. You absolutely worthless piece of-"

"I know!" Hiccup roared. Astrid was taken aback. Hiccup had never yelled before. "Okay? Is that what you want to hear? I know! I've been stupid, incredibly stupid! This will never work out! I know that!" He groaned, pacing now. "They will kill me, won't they?" He huffed, pinching his nose. "Look, Astrid," he turned back towards her, "Please don't tell them. Let me try to fix this."

"And how long will that take?" She demanded, her hands curling into fists, "I'm not waiting forever for this."

"A week. Give me a week." He held out his hand.

"A week," she agreed, grabbing his hand and shaking it.

Hiccup looked over at his dragon, "Toothless, you can move now." The dragon warbled and slunk away unhappily.

Astrid started for the exit but turned around. "By the way," she reminded, "you're in the running to kill the Nightmare."

* * *

That day proved how different Astrid and Hiccup truly are, but that night, they had one thing in common. When they reached their houses, and got in their beds, both found themselves crying.

* * *

 **AN: "Romantic Flight"**

 **And that's the end of part two (which did end up going a bit longer than expected). Teaser for next week: Daddy's home. Please don't stone me for that joke.**


	16. Part 3 - Chapter 15

**AN: Hey guys, this is a super short chapter, I know. I was really busy this week, but I wanted to make sure that I got something out. Maybe next week will be longer than average to make up for it?**

 **Guest: Yeah, no, don't worry – I've got an explanation. You're not wrong in saying that she's acting ooc, because I haven't written her exactly as the Dreamworks writers would've written her. I've made training to become a shield maiden and fighting in this war against the dragons a much bigger priority in her life. Also, her and Hiccup have more of a past that I'll delve into later. I guess what I'm trying to say is, the version of Astrid wouldn't be able to be quickly convinced that dragons are good. She's been raised to kill them, and has been informed by every person she looks up to that dragons are terrible, and it's fair to assume that she's seen this firsthand. And to be convinced by Hiccup is out of the question at this point. But I may have gone overboard, I can see where you're coming from.**

 **Aaquater: She definitely is more persistent, but I hope that's okay. We'll just have to watch it all pan out, won't we?**

* * *

Part 3: Persistence

"It doesn't matter how many times you get knocked down. All that matters is you get up one more time than you were knocked down."

-Roy T. Bennett

* * *

Morning. The sun has just risen over the horizon. It shines its bright rays of light over the ragged and broken ships sailing into the harbour of Berk. Six ships had left on an expedition one week before then, but today only two boats, filled to the brim with exhausted Viking warriors returned.

Gobber greets the tired ships at the docks. Stoick climbs off the boat first, his eyes distant and blank.

"I assume you at least got to the nest," Gobber asks, trying to raise moral.

Spitelout steps forward, answering before his brother gets the chance, "Not even close."

Stoick is so exhausted, he no longer bothers to try to hide his exasperation. Spitelout has been on the verge of a fight the entire expedition, ceaselessly pestering Stoick with "considerations" as to who the true heir of Berk is. It took everything in Stoick's will to keep his composure. They were in constant danger while they were out at sea, and everyone had to be on guard. Stoick had to lead by example, and that meant abstaining from arguing with his brother. Though, when no one was in ear shot, Stoick couldn't help but hiss to Spitelout that Hiccup was the heir, and that was final.

This never seemed to deter Spitelout, as even this morning he reminded his brother that every chief in Berk's history had been first in their class for training. Stoick still searched for a reasonable response to that.

"I hope you had more luck with the new recruits," Stoick asked Gobber, shoving Spitelout behind him to help the other men off the boats.

"If by success," Gobber drawls, hoping to lighten the mood again, "you mean all of your parenting troubles are over, then yes."

Spitelout looked up from the boat as he heard the words. As if on cue, men and women who had stayed behind ran down the dock, exclaiming to their chief about how happy they were that they never had to deal with Hiccup Horrendous Haddock ever again. Spitelout began to smile as he never had before. The Haddock runt was out of the way, and he and Snotlout could finally become the heir, and soon, chief of Berk.

Stoick's eyes widened as the shock rolled over him. "Hiccup?" he asked in confusion, "He's gone?" He knew his son didn't have the best chances going into training, but he had never truly imagined he would die.

Gobber laughed nervously as he realized how bad this all looked. "Most afternoons, but who can blame him? What, with all his new fans?"

Stoick let out a sigh of relief, though it came in the form of laugh, "Hiccup's doing well?"

"More than well," Gobber smiled, "He's doing better than I've ever seen. I think he just needed to face the dragons head on. He's got a way with them, you know?"

Stoick laughed. He truly genuinely laughed, "How about that?" He turned to face his brother, his face painted with furious shock, "Spitelout, you're a betting man, aren't you? Whoever wins the honour of killing the Nightmare is the official heir, how does that sound?"

Spitelout's expression morphed from one of an angered shock to one of pure fury, though he didn't say a word. Stoick stuck out his hand, smirking. Wordlessly, Spitelout took it, glowering. His only thought, _Snotlout better win, or on Thor's name, he's going to regret it._

* * *

 **AN: I wasn't lying when I said it was short. Sorry…**


	17. Part 3 - Chapter 16

**AN: There's a trigger warning on this chapter – do I still need to put these up?**

 **Aaquater: Again, you've got it right on the nose! You're probably going to enjoy this chapter, seeing as you've pretty much predicted it already.**

l/b

Hiccup closed his eyes, willing himself to clear his mind as he and Toothless soared through the clouds. His encounter with Astrid still hadn't stopped repeating itself in his head, always ending with that terrible line that caused him to shudder, "You're in the running to kill the Nightmare." Training sessions were going to end any day now; Gobber had told them the elders were meeting more and more frequently now to discuss results. Hiccup figured he had until the expedition came back, but he had no idea when that might happen. _If they come home at all,_ the thought quickly flitted through his consciousness before he could stop it. _They will come back. They always have._ He hurriedly brought his mind back towards training, distracting himself with the current problem at hand.

Hiccup figured he'd have to throw it, but he didn't know how. If he was completely honest with himself, he didn't think any of what he did in the ring would've worked. And if he was able to lose in training, he wondered if that would raise suspicion. Every Viking currently on Berk thinks of him as a god amongst them, but if he started failing, would they think it was all just a fluke? _They wouldn't be wrong._ But the thought that everything that had come to him in the past week could just be forgotten sent shivers down his spine. He didn't really like being the center of attention, but he didn't like being the butt of every joke either. When he was young, he always thought the gods had it out for him. _Either they're loving me now, or they hate me more than anything else._

He opened his eyes in resignation. His head was more muddled than ever. He glanced down at Toothless. The dragon seemed to be fine for now, but they had been flying for hours now in an attempt to calm Hiccup. "Should we take a break, bud?" Hiccup asked, patting his friend's neck. The dragon warbled back, and they smoothly turned into a landing angle. Their flying was certainly getting better. In sync, both boy and dragon turned their representative tails to land. Hiccup hopped off, unclipping himself from the dragon's back. Out of habit, he noticed some miniature cracks on the metal, already wearing down from use. Hiccup made a mental note to improve and replace the part.

He turned, surveying the cove. In the distance, something glinted in the sun. He squinted, moving towards it a few paces when he realized it was Astrid's axe. The sinking feeling in his stomach from yesterday grew deeper, though his cheeks began to burn. Hiccup couldn't believe that he still liked Astrid after everything that happened, especially the death threats. _There isn't another man on Berk who'd let himself be walked on like that,_ he thought to himself miserably. But he didn't want to fight her. Not then, and not even now, when she literally holds a secret worth his fate in her hands. _Not that it even matters,_ he figured, _she hates me. She always has, and she always will._

 _Wouldn't it be easy if I could hate her back._

l/b

Flick. Up. Down. Flick. Up. Turn. Sigh. Straighten. Flick. Up. Sharp Turn. Bang.

Hiccup jumped up in his seat at the sudden noise. He turned to find his father squeezing through the small door of the forge's back room. He gasped, spinning around to hurriedly hide his papers. He had been working on the harness hook but had reached a mental block as he tried to figure out how to improve it. He had several other sketches of Toothless, his fin, and his saddle laying around. It was stupid of him to think he could leave them out in the open, but it was rare that anyone came back here. Even Snotlout knew that Hiccup liked to be by himself if he was in his room.

"Dad!" Hiccup exclaimed, trying to buy time as the papers wouldn't cooperate with him, "I didn't know you had come back already!"

"Boats came in this morning," he responded gruffly, "but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

Hiccup knew from his father's tone that he should stop with the papers now. He prayed his father wouldn't look to closely at the stack. "Oh? And what is it? that you want to talk to me about?"

Stoick pulled over a stool from the corner and sat down roughly, leaning in ever so slightly. "We need to talk about that dragon."

The colour drained from Hiccup's face, but he tried to play it off, "W-what dragon, dad? I don't know what you're-"

"Nothing happens on this island without me knowing about it." _Astrid told him,_ Hiccup thought to himself in resignation, _I should've seen this coming. Of course she would! Why wou-_ His thoughts were cut short by his father's booming laughter.

"I'm confused," Hiccup mumbled, "You're happy?"

"Of course, I am! Why wouldn't I be?"

Hiccup felt a smile tugging at his lips, _Who knew my dad would be so easy to convince?_ "I didn't think you were expecting it."

"I'll be honest with you, I wasn't." He clasped his hand on his boy's shoulder, shaking him slightly in excitement, "I'm so happy for you."

Hiccup was beaming now. _This is too good to be true._ "Yeah, I'm pretty happy too, I guess."

"Oh, but it gets better! Wait 'till you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time," Stoick roared with laughter.

Hiccup's mouth went slack.

"Or mount your first Gonkle head on a spear!" He noticed his son's expression, and nodded in recognition, "You're a more methodical killer, aren't ya? No shame in that!" Hiccup laughed nervously. In the back of his head he knew his hopes couldn't have been true, but he was still lost for words.

"I must say, you really had me going. All those years of the worst Viking Berk had ever seen. . ." His father continued his speech, but it was all white noise to him. His father really thought he was the worst Viking in Berk's history? Hiccup knew he wasn't exactly that great at the whole Viking business, but he had always assumed, _in vain,_ that there was someone worse.

". . . finally, we have something to talk about."

Hiccup looked up at the words. He and his father couldn't talk before? This threw him off. They always spoke during dinner, whether they were filling each other in on there days, or Stoick was teaching him lessons about being chief. Hiccup never felt uncomfortable in the silences they sometimes shared. He didn't know it had bothered his dad.

Stoick cleared his throat. "I got you a gift." He handed Hiccup a proper Viking helmet. Hiccup accepted it with a smile, but he couldn't help wondering if he would've ever received it if he wasn't doing so 'well' in the ring. "It was half of your mother's breastplate. Half of a matching set." He knocked his own helmet. Hiccup stifled a grimaced, hoping it came out more as a smile. "Hopefully, it will help you even more," Stoick continued, "Got a lot riding on tomorrow."

"What?" Hiccup asked, "Why?"

Stoick seemed to think over his words for a moment before responding, "I don't want to worry you, but your uncle and I made a little wager. Whoever gets to kill the Nightmare gets to be heir. Not that it's much of a bet – Gobber's been gushing over your performance."

"That's," Hiccup breathed, stumbling for words, "a lot to take in, dad."

"Don't sweat it too much, Gobber's told me about Snotlout's performance too." He winked. "Rest up. Tomorrow's a big day!" Hiccup nodded wordlessly as his father almost skipped out of the small room, humming very faintly under his breath.

Hiccup turned, stared at the wall for a moment to let what had just happened wash over him, and banged his head on the table.

"The gods definitely hate me."

l/b

Snotlout swung his bludgeon around aimlessly as he entered his house. He was planning on visiting Hiccup, but he'd been busy a lot lately, and he figured his cousin needed some time to himself. No doubt, Hiccup would be in his back room, working on some invention that only existed in his plans and in his mind, and made no sense to anyone else. Snotlout let out a small chuckle. Hiccup certainly was determined when it came to things like that. One time, Snotlout had found him pacing and muttering to himself some unintelligible nonsense that sounded like measurements and calculations. It took five minutes and a pebble to the head to break him out of the trance. _Hopefully he won't start skipping meals again,_ Snotlout thought to himself, wondering what they'd be eating tonight. They'd been eating a lot of chicken lately, but personally, he could go for some mutton.

The door shot open like a canon, and Snotlout jumped in shock. His father stormed in quickly with murder painted across his face, and he slammed the door shut with a bang. "Hey dad," he began to stutter out, but the words died in his throat when he registered the look on his father's face. Snotlout was thrown against the wall.

"Why don't you tell me about training, boy?" His father spits, his breath reeking as it finds it's way up Snotlout's nose.

"I, uh, i-it's um," He's lost for words.

He's slapped across the face, interrupting his struggle for words. His father presses Snotlout closer to the wall, the air forced out the boy's lungs. "You're letting the Haddock boy beat you? What were you thinking?" Each word crackles in Snotlout's ears. A punch to the gut. He's thrown on the ground. "You're supposed to do better!"

Tears prick his eyes, but he forces them away. His father can't notice. "I'm trying," he begs, "I'm doing my best!"

Frustration is mounting, emphasised in two quick kicks at the gut. He coughs up blood.

"I'm sorry." His voice is thick and wet, "Please, I'm sorry!

The breath again. Reeking as it grows nearer and nearer until, "Try harder. You don't know how much you're embarrassing me."

He scrambles to his feet. "I'll try harder, I promise."

A grunt. "You better. You don't want to see me if you don't kill that Nightmare."

He nods, fearfully, obediently, remorsefully. A final shove. Gone.

Snotlout stares at the walls of the house he grew up in. Tears sting his eyes again, harder this time. He shakes his head, willing himself to be rid of these painful feelings in and out of him. He feels he's losing the battle. He grabs his hammer. Runs to the forest. Movement is painful, but it's worse to stay still. Rest is for the Weak, this is what he tells himself. He trains. The hammer does little damage on a tree, blunt object hitting blunt object. But slowly, the damage becomes worse. He falls a tree. Rids it of it's branches. His muscles ache. His bruises scream. He ignores it all. He eats some dinner. Mutton. He stays out until he knows his father has fallen asleep.

l/b

 **IG: googlegravityfanfics**


	18. Part 3 - Chapter 17

**AN: Alright, so no one seemed opposed to this, so I'll start posting the rest of the chapters now. They're extremely rough, and at some points more notes to myself than actual story, but you'll get the general understanding.**

 **I also won't be using my Instagram anymore, so if it's anyone following that, they can unfollow.**

 **I'll try my best to post these rough chapters once a day.**

Part 3 – Chapter 17

Hiccup is a wreck as he walks to training. He has to throw the match, but now his dad is counting on him. Astrid is feeling nervous too, after the expedition groups came back, there'll be much more people watching than normal, and there's still a high chance that she'll lose to a boy who flies a dragon. Snotlout walks in in a fired hurry, his face plastered with a look of determination to cover up the fear beneath. He had gotten beaten again, Spitelout knew how horribly he was doing. He knew what would come if he didn't win this thing, and he was NOT going to let that happen. Soon, everyone else arrives, and the spectator area is filled to the brim. Hiccup gives Astrid her axe back after she forgot it with the "romantic flight." Awkward exchange, with them both sharing this secret, but having different opinions on it.

Flashback: Astrid talking to Hiccup about where his mom was. At some celebration or another, young Astrid was sitting with her parents in the Great Hall, and noticed that Hiccup wasn't sitting with his mom. Astrid asked her parents where she was, and, without going into much detail, they explained that Hiccup's mom was taken by dragons. She keeps pressing the topic, so her parents suggest she go ask him herself. Later that evening, Astrid asked Hiccup about his mother, and Hiccup responded with all he knew about her – that his dad loved her, and that the dragons took her, even though they weren't bad. Make sure Hiccup's reasoning for this last part isn't "I know dragons are good 'cuz I remember my mom telling me, just that he's always had the feeling. He doesn't even know about the voice at that point.

Everyone's nerves are shot, and the deafening cheering when the gates are opened does nothing to remedy it. There are small wooden barriers set up sporadically throughout the arena, otherwise, nothing else will block them from the fiery balls of lava the Gronkle will spit out. To Snotlout, all the cheering is blocked out, and the only voice he can hear is his father's, the words of last night ringing in his head. Snotlout hops over to the barrier Hiccup is crouched behind. "I'm winning this thing," he spits at his cousin. Hiccup is taken aback for a moment, but quickly starts worrying that Snotlout may end up killing the Nightmare, in front of everyone. He had been trying to tell his cousin for years that the dragons weren't bad, but it never proved to be fruitful. Hiccup looked into Snotlout's eyes for a moment, shocked to see that he seemed to hate dragons more than the day his mother died. He remembered that look – anger and hate, with an underlying note of fear. All those emotions were present today, but magnified. "Snotlout, don't." Snotlout is completely overwhelmed by this all, "Why?" He spits, looking over his shoulder to spot the Gronkle. He's about to hop up, when Hiccup firmly places his hand on his shoulder, shoving him down with a strength neither of them knew he had. "Please, just trust me. Don't." Snotlout ignores this, and runs to another barrier, sitting against it for a moment, just to gather his thoughts. "This time, this time for sure," he mutters, "I can't lose."

The Gronkle flies somewhat lazily over to Hiccup, happily remembering the boy who gave him dragon nip, when Snotlout charges for it, hammer raised and ready to go. Hiccup sees murder in his cousin's eyes, and though he really doesn't want to win the training, he doesn't want Snotlout to kill the Gronkle. Hiccup sighs and does the neck scratch thingy – if I can't think of anything else. Tapping his axe on the ground, mimicking something Valka would do with her staff? Maybe he guides it down? Uses the intimidation thing like with the Zippelback? Basic reasoning? Astrid sees this and storms out immediately. Snotlout is broken from his trance at seeing the Gronkle unconscious on the floor. He's overwhelmed again. He doesn't know whether or not to feel angry or sad or happy or what, and so he shuts down. He stands there, completely mute. He barely moves when Gobber approaches him, standing between him and Hiccup. Gobber announces that the elder has made her decision. He raises his hook over Snotlout. Gothi shakes her head. Snotlout looks over to Spitelout, who's has murder in his eyes, just as Snotlout had a moment ago. Snotlout is immediately overcome by fear, and now anger, as Gobber raises his hand above Hiccup, who receives a nod. Snotlout didn't win, and Hiccup did, of all people?


	19. Part 3 - Chapters 18 and 19

Part 3 – Chapters 18 and 19

 **Chapter 14:** Spitelout's words of how Hiccup is such a failure, such a disappointment, such a waste of space fills his head. The words repeat, while a single threat runs overtop. "He's going to ruin you, Snotlout. He'll ruin you, and you'll ruin me. And you don't want to ruin me." Or something like that. Snotlout glares at Hiccup, who mutters a little, "Bye," and runs off. Snotlout storms after him, his facial expression clear that he's on the warpath. Hiccup runs off to the forest hoping he can lose his cousin there. However, when he looks behind him, to see if he's been successful, he's tackled by Snotlout. They struggle for a bit, Hiccup just barely being able to block some punches while Snotlout screams at him that he had to win. It isn't long before Snotlout exhausts himself, getting off of Hiccup, and tears soon begin to fall. Hiccup is alarmed, asking what's wrong. Snotlout can only choke out a small, "I had to win." Hiccup tries to comfort him, mumbling that he didn't actually want to win. This takes Snotlout, "What? Then why were you doing so well?" Hiccup backs up quickly before Snotlout can throw more punches. "Please, let me explain." Snotlout sits down numbly, and Hiccup settles down opposite of him. "I didn't want to win, because I don't want to kill the Nightmare. I don't want to kill any dragon. And I don't want you to either." Snotlout looks up with the most pained expression Hiccup had ever seen. "We have to. They've taken so much from us. They're evil. It's our job to stop them. It's the only thing I thought I'd ever be good at." He takes a hard breath, "But I can't, apparently. Some emotional line about him taking the punishment." Hiccup shakes his head, "No, please, let me show you." Snotlout is too exhausted to argue, and follows Hiccup.

The entire walk to the cove, Hiccup is extremely nervous. So many things could go wrong. He's just happy Snotlout forgot his hammer in the ring. After what feels like ages, the reach the cove. Hiccup stops before they enter, "Please promise me you'll keep an open mind. What I'm about to show you is going to seem really, REALLY bad, but you have to let me explain." Snotlout tiredly nods his head. They enter the cove, "Snotlout, meet Toothless. Toothless, Snotlout."

Snotlout is shocked at the presence of the dragon, "The Night Fury," he says, "it didn't escape. You freed it." Hiccup nods his head. Snotlout's shock turns to anger. "No wonder you want to protect them, you've been with them all along. You're one of them." "What? No Snotlout, please!" Snotlout turns to leave, "Wait until your father learns about this."

 **Chapter 15:** Hiccup tries to call after him, to no avail. He quickly hops on Toothless, and they chase after Snotlout. NEXT PART IS A VARIATION OF ROMANTIC FLIGHT AND LEAD UP, BUT SHORTENED BECAUSE OF THE TRIP TO DRAGON ISLAND. OTHERWISE GOES PRETTY SIMILARLY. Note: Snotlout is very confused this entire time. Afterwards, they go through the Terror scene. Need to make sure they have reasoning to blow up the gas in the dragon's mouth.


	20. Part 3 - Chapter 20

Part 3 – Chapter 20

Snotlout would also get a beating, meaning I actually have to write it, and I kind of don't want to. Ugh, whatever. Snotlout will be completely confused on how to feel – should he still want to kill dragons, or no? Are they bad or good? Is it because of the Red Death that the dragons are bad, or are the dragons naturally bad, but the Red Death is the baddest of them all? Should he trust Hiccup, or trust the tribe? He's always trusted Hiccup, but has he been right? His dad never encouraged to hang out with Hiccup, rather, he did the opposite, but he's never trusted Spitelout. But would the entire tribe be wrong? Doesn't it make more sense for one person to be wrong as opposed to hundreds? He can't think, and when Spitelout falls asleep, he goes out for another walk. He tries to clear his head, but it's not happening. Every time he thinks that one side may be right, the pain from the bruises are more prominent, and he wonders which side would cause him more pain. He's completely confused, comes to no decisions, and has no idea what to think about anything anymore. Everything he once knew has now been questioned, but he has come up with no answers.

Flashback Op: Astrid talking to Hiccup about how her parents don't want her play with him anymore. Hiccup asks why, and Astrid beats around the bush. Hiccup says it flat out though, "it's because I'm smaller, isn't it?" Astrid asks where he found that out, and he admits he Ruffnut and Tuffnut talking about it with Fishlegs' parents. Astrid apologizes, but Hiccup is surprisingly mature for his age (what should I put them at? 5 or so?) and says that she should listen to her parents: she's going to be the bravest, strongest, bestest warrior Berk has seen. He knows he would never be anything close to that. "Besides," he laughs, "if I'm around you, I'll look even worse." Astrid scowls and punches his arm, but laughs, gives him a hug, and says good bye. "Maybe one day we can be friends again?" Astrid asks. "Maybe."

This confusion stays until the next morning.

Hiccup walks to the arena the next day feely fairly uneasy. The cheering at the arena is a deafening roar of a repeated, "Hiccup," which Hiccup can't help but think is somewhat cult-like. Astrid comes and informs him how much he's messed up, and good luck getting out of this one, but it's interrupted by Snotlout saying, "Since when are you two a thing," instead of Gobber right away. Astrid looks between the two, trying to decide who's she's angrier at, before settling on, "I'll kill you both." Hiccup notices Snotlout's tired expression, and semi-hurt in his eyes, and tells her that she'll probably only have to kill one after this. It's a very somber mood down there. Hiccup says something like, "I know I can't expect anything from you two, but if, and when, things go wrong – I don't even know. I just hope Toothless stays safe, but you guys don't care." Astrid looks at him in surprise, nodding over to Snotlout, wondering if Hiccup momentarily forgot his cousin's presence. Hiccup sighs, "He knows." Astrid looks over at Snotlout now, in bewilderment, and Snotlout drops his gaze. He's still so confused, and so hurt, but he doesn't know who hurt him, and nothing makes sense anymore, and he doesn't want her to see that, even if it seems that they might not have a chance anymore. He drops his head even more as he momentarily wonders if they ever had a chance at all.

Gobber walks in on everyone standing around uncomfortably, and valiantly tries to lift the mood, to no success. The gates raise, and Hiccup walks in, putting on his helmet in an act that should appear as brave, but his facial expression already shows defeat.


	21. Part 3 - Chapter 21

Part 3 – Chapter 21

In his head, all the possible things that could go wrong – no one listening, not being able to train the dragon, the Nightmare killing him, somehow the Vikings finding out about Toothless and – he forces his thoughts to stop. He can't bear to think about it.

As he grabs his shield, and picks up his knife, Snotlout is finally able to raise his head, though he still refuses eye contact with everyone. He remembers Hiccup's words from last night, that dragons are innocent, they don't deserve death. He wonders if Hiccup will follow through on those words, and if he'll be right.

Hiccup declares that he's ready, though he really doesn't feel like he is.

Stoick watches eagerly from the stands. He always knew that Hiccup had greatness within him, and now finally, he can let it out, and prove anyone who thought otherwise wrong. Today, Hiccup will turn into the man Stoick had always hoped he would become, a man in semblance to him.

The gates open, and the Nightmare breaks through. Snotlout thinks he might be imagining this, but… is it trying to escape? Shouldn't it be trying to kill him? He voices his thoughts absentmindedly, forgetting he's with company. "It can't be possible," Astrid mutters. The Nightmare gives up it's plans of escape, and turns it's focus to Hiccup. Hiccup drops the knife and the shield. Spitelout glowers from the crowd. The town screw-up was chosen to fight the Nightmare, and he can't even do that. He's embarrassing himself, and all the other trainees. He's embarrassing Stoick, and he's embarrassing him.

Hiccup seems to be calming the Nightmare, and Astrid's heart skips a beat. There's now way what she's seeing is true. Hiccup sees the Nightmare still doesn't trust him, and he knows it's the helmet. Snotlout's words, "You're one of them," rings through his head. Hiccup's annoyed that it always has to be Viking vs. Dragon, one or another. Why does he have to be one of many, choosing a side instead of choosing peace. His hands touch the helmet, the one that had belonged to his mother, and the woman's words rang through him again. He throws it to the side. Stoick stands up in shock. What in Thor's name is he doing? Throwing away what belonged to his tribe and to his mother? Hiccup's words ring true. "I'm not one of them."

Astrid is shocked. Snotlout is confused. Spitelout is furious. Stoick is hurt. "Stop the fight," Stoick mutters.

"No," Hiccup yells back firmly, "I need you all to see this. They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them." He sees the Nightmare's eyes grow wider, and its snout comes closer to his hand. He can do this. He really can. Snotlout and Astrid realize this simultaneously. Stoick is overwhelmed. He's infuriated with Hiccup for discarding his tribe. He's infuriated with Hiccup for choosing the dragons over his people. He's infuriated with Hiccup for defending the dragons, just as Valka had, while simultaneously, throwing her away with the rest of them. "I said, STOP THE FIGHT." Stoick's hammer hits hard against the steel fencing around the arena, breaking the Nightmare's trance, as it goes in for the attack.

Hiccup runs as fast he can, quickly escaping the fiery blasts. Astrid watches this all in fear, acting without thought, and purely instinct, adrenaline pumping through her, she lifts the gate using her axe as leverage. She slides under, and throws a hammer at the Nightmare, distracting it. Her only thoughts are, no, things cannot go wrong. Stoick sees what's unravelling and makes a beeline for the gate, lifting it up, and guiding the two teens to the exit. He's acting before he's thinking, and really, he's not thinking at all. Any anger he had towards his son has vanished in the moment, and his only concern is their safety.

Astrid is able to evade the dragon, but Hiccup can't seem to do the same. It isn't long before the dragon has him pinned. Hiccup thinks it's all over. Astrid is doesn't know what to think. Snotlout finds himself hoping that somehow, things will work out for Hiccup. Stoick can't help but wonder if this is really happening, or if it's all some sick nightmare. Spitelout watches, smiling sadistically. Hiccup will finally get what he deserves, and Spitelout will finally get himself an heir, and with it, the power and respect HE deserves.

Suddenly, a familiar whistle fills their ears. Stoick and Spitelout, along with all the Vikings duck their heads in fear, while Hiccup smiles. Snotlout finds himself sighing with relief. Astrid is lost in her thoughts. Toothless blasts his way into the arena and wrestles the Nightmare away from Hiccup.

The rest of the scene goes pretty much the same, with Hiccup, Toothless, and Astrid against Stoick, Spitelout, and the Vikings of Berk. Snotlout stands back, not wanting to publicly pick a side, but he roots for Hiccup, the one who never hurt him. And if Hiccup says the dragons are okay, then maybe they are.


	22. Part 4 - Chapter 22

**Part 4: In Spite of All**

 **"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."**

 **-Christopher Reeve**

Part 4 – Chapter 22

Once Toothless is captured, Stoick hauls Hiccup away. Dialogue is pretty much the same, and still ends with disownment. However, Hiccup doesn't just sit back. Right before Stoick exits, Hiccup calls out, "A chief protects his own."

That line breaks Stoick. Ever since Hiccup was a boy, Stoick had repeated that line to him. He was always raised Hiccup to be heir, and he fought Spitelout time and time again on the title. People always doubted Hiccup, but Stoick knew he would one day be a great leader, and so he continued to teach Hiccup on how to chief the tribe. When he found out how well Hiccup had been doing, when he saw how Hiccup won the honor, Stoick was so proud. His boy was finally becoming the man he dreamed he'd be. But then it all changed in the Kill Ring that morning. Hiccup wasn't the man Stoick had thought he'd become. He chose the dragons over his people, he chose the things that had robbed him of his mother over the father who had kept him a home. And he used that phrase against him, "A chief protects his own." Stoick had protected him, all his life. But Hiccup had chosen the dragons, he was no longer with the Vikings. He was no longer Stoick's own. Hiccup, the boy who had always kept him hoping and believing, and wishing a better world for, was no longer his own. A rogue tear fell from his eye, quickly being swept away. Hiccup was no longer his own.

Stoick pauses for a moment to rid himself of his weakness. He couldn't morn over a boy who chose the enemy, whoever that boy may be. He called for the boats to be readied. Spitelout sidled up beside him, "So, what punishment are we thinking for the treacherous little nuisance?" Stoick's mood is somber. "I've disowned him. I haven't thought of a," he pauses, momentarily trying to take back the words he's about to say, but he forces himself to continue. A chief protects his own, and a traitor in their midst must be dealt with, "haven't thought of a suitable punishment as of yet. We'll deal with him after we deal with the nest." Spitelout is happy by the sound of disownment, Snotlout will be made heir! But he knows that Haddock boy is smart, and that Stoick cares for him far too much. The boy must be sentenced as soon as possible, before Stoick can let his emotions get the best of him. "Stoick, I must insist, we should punish him as soon as we can. The boy has sided with the dragons, the creatures that tear our families apart. Think of Eira, think of Valka. The boy is capable of destroying half the village on accident, dare we even imagine what he can do, now that he's angry, and has the help of the dragons? He's wicked, he's mad, he's a danger to society. We have to banish him as soon as possible."

Snotlout, a few feet behind the two men, cannot believe what he is hearing. Hiccup has been disowned? And they want to do more? Some parts of his mind can understand the logic, if someone is angry and has the control of fire-breathing lizards, then what truly is holding them back? But Hiccup? They can't possibly think Hiccup would ever do something like that? Hiccup is always the happy one that Snotlout went to when he felt he had been hurt by the tribe. Hiccup is the one who carefully thinks through everything, and makes his decisions based on his findings. Hiccup is the one who never would act out of malice, or any sort of emotion, purely because of how much he thinks instead of feels. And even though Hiccup never lets his emotions be a deciding factor in anything, he still cares for those around him, despite the people around him not caring for him. In Snotlout's mind, Hiccup is the least aggressive Viking of them all, and in Snotlout's mind, that makes him the best. Hiccup has a mind for peace, and he would never lash out, and use the dragons to destroy them all.

And a little voice in the back of his head says that the dragons Hiccup has met would never go along with that.

Snotlout steps forward, completely sure of what he will do, but hopelessly clueless of what it will mean. But if he knows one thing, it's that Hiccup is the nicest person in the entire archipelago, and he will not let him be punished for wanting peace. Snotlout snatches Spitelout's arm, effectively grabbing his attention (pun totally intended). He gulps as his eyes meet those of the man he has always cowered from. He's never rebelled against his father, for fear of the surely painful punishment. But this is different now. Spitelout isn't right, he never was. Snotlout has always paid the price for Spitelout's terrible ideas, and he's had enough of Spitelout not getting what he's deserved. The punishment can't always go to Snotlout, and for Thor's sake, it will not go to Hiccup.

"Stop," Snotlout says, his voice sharp like steal. Spitelout glowers at him, "Leave us, boy. We've got more important things to tend to." Spitelout shakes his arm from his son's grip, furious he would try to intervene with his role as heir.

Snotlout scowls and charges forward, stopping in front of the larger man. "Hiccup will not be punished."

Spitelout sneers, "A traitor is in our midst, and he must be dealt with. Now you better shut your mutton hole, if you know what's good for you. You're the heir now, you have to do what's good for the people."

Snotlout is now seething, the last thing on his mind is this stupid heir quarrel. "Maybe I don't want to be heir," he shouts, not caring that he'll be feeling the penalty for weeks, "Maybe I don't want to do what's best for this stupid tribe. Hiccup was trying to do the best for the tribe, showing us how to stop this stupid 7-generation-long war, but this stupid tribe can't get the message through their thick skulls. If 'doing the best' causes disownment, then please, go ahead, I don't care anymore."

Spitelout glares at the boy, "You don't know what you're talking about."

Snotlout's not hearing it. "No! YOU don't know what you're talking about! You don't know what's best, none of you! You people are all so stupid, you don't understand shit about being 'peaceful.' Everything's about fighting, and causing the most pain. No compromise, no agreements, just domination, and having the others submit. It's all so stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! I refuse to stand for it! I refuse to be heir!"

Spitelout stomps closer, so the father and son are nose-to-nose. "You're just like him, you traitor. You've chosen the dragons as well."

Snotlout can't help but roll his eyes. "Maybe that wouldn't be so bad," he says, the volume gone, but the ferocity still persisting, "At least the dragons have a reason behind their actions. They take the food so they won't be the food. But you Vikings, you refuse to leave. You insist on proving some sort of dominance over fire-freaking-breathing dragons. So sure, I'm fine with not being associated with idiots."

Spitelout is about to draw back his fist when he remembers his surroundings. He takes a quick glance at Stoick, who seems completely lost in thought, before gripping the boy's shoulders, digging his fingers in as deep as he can. He leans in so close that Snotlout can smell the haddock and mead off of the man's breath. "You listen to me, you little bastard. You're no son of mine. I refuse to associate with all this mutiny." He gestures to all of Snotlout, and the young man holds back a sarcastic remark. "You're disowned, boy, you hear me? Disowned. You better hope it was worth it." He shoves his ex-son away, watching with a grim satisfaction as the boy stumbles away.

Spitelout resumes his conversation with Stoick, "I believe banishment is in order for the treacherous acts committed today." Stoick is brought from his trance by the words, "Hmm? Oh, yes, for sure." But he can't shake his nephew's words. Was Hiccup really trying to bring peace? The thought bothers him. The dragons have always attacked. Always. They couldn't be capable of peace, could they? How could they compromise with the beasts? The Vikings have to dominate the area. This is their land, their home, and their livelihood. The dragons don't understand that. His frazzled mind is completely exhausted from the events of the day, but he tells himself over and over, they must fight for what is theirs. He sighs deeply, just wanting this all to be some sort of twisted nightmare. Or at least, he want's this to be over. He looks over at his brother with tired eyes, "Yes, a chief protects his own."


	23. Part 4 - Chapter 23

Part 4 – Chapter 23

Conversation between Snotlout and Hiccup. Snotlout tells Hiccup that he has also been disowned, and that Hiccup will probably be outcast. Hiccup laughs hollowly when Snotlout says that he thinks the dragons might not be all that bad. Hiccup makes some remark about how that's great, but it's not the rest of the tribe. Snotlout reasons that they've only seen the bad in dragons. Hiccup is completely overwhelmed, and lashes out, yelling that he tried to show them, but they refused to see. Snotlout backs up defensively, apologises, and runs away, betrayed. A main reason as to why Snotlout had the courage to stand up to his father is because of Hiccup's rationality, and ability to overcome the obstacles he faces. He's starting to wonder if that's not so true.

In passing, Astrid and Snotlout have a short conversation about Hiccup. Everything that's happening and how he's reacting – not well. Astrid says something like, "I don't know if it will help, but I think I'll go talk to him." Snotlout feels a twinge in his heart, but ignores it. "He really likes you, y'know?" Astrid blushes and turns away, "Yeah."

Flashback Op: Astrid's parents telling her to stop hanging out with the Haddock boy. Explaining that he was a walking fishbone. She shouldn't associate with the weak. Astrid's mom argues that they shouldn't speak like that about the chief's son, and Astrid's father exclaims that the only good thing about the boy was his father.

Astrid says something like, "You changed my mind today. Well, you, the Nightmare," she pauses before naming the dragon, "Toothless. I'm sorry I didn't believe you before, it's just-"

Hiccup cuts her off because he knows what she's going to say, "you grew up thinking of them as monsters. It's fine. I'm just glad some people believe me." Then, basically the same conversation between Astrid and Hiccup as in the movie, but including Snotlout's name a few times, so Hiccup once again, doesn't feel so alone. Somewhere in there, "You've lost everything, your tribe, your father, your best friend." "But not everything, Astrid, right? I've still got Snotlout – I was sure as Hel he was gonna leave me too – and," he blushes, "do I have you?" And then Astrid nods, and THAT'S when they have their first half kiss thingy.

Hiccup make the plan to save the tribe. He runs off to Snotlout to explain it, who is overjoyed that the rational Hiccup is back. Astrid runs off to get Fishlegs, and Snotlout runs to get the twins. Hiccup goes to the arena, and mentally prepares himself.


	24. Part 4 - Chapter 24

Part 4 – Chapter 24

Cut to the Vikings on the ships. Stoick is lost in thought, mulling over Hiccup and Snotlout's words. Do the dragons really kill because they have to? Even if they do, what can Berk do? They have to fight for their food and their home too. And should Hiccup really be exiled? Should he even have been disowned? Guilt strangles his mind, and the doubts crawl through the cracks. He's sure by now that he was wrong, at least partially. A chief protects his own, and while Hiccup's opinions may differ from those of the tribe, once this is all over with, once all the dragons are gone, what will that mean? He's wondering what he should do about it all when Gobber approaches him, asking what the plan is. Spitelout jumps in, saying whatever the line is. The old Viking fallback one. Stoick glares at his younger brother, shoving him away, still salty about what happened back on Berk, and no longer really trusting what he has to say. "Please, Spitelout, the chief will give all orders from now on." Spitelout pouts, and walks off, while Stoick goes over to the steering, following Toothless' movements. His only thoughts being, "The sooner we can get this done…"

Back on Berk, Hiccup is smiling at how well the other teens are getting along with the dragons. He marvels at how similar they are. Snotlout and the Nightmare, both fiery, yet surprisingly calm together. Astrid and the Nadder, both sneaky and confident. Fishlegs and the Gronkle, mellow personalities, and extremely intelligent. And the Twins and the Zippelback, both mischievous pairs, and both extremely fond of destruction. He stops himself before he can think of the similarities between him and Toothless. Oh gods, he hopes Toothless is okay. The queen seemed pretty angry at him the last time they met. Hiccup shakes himself of the thought, forcing himself to have an optimistic outlook of the situation. All of the teens did pretty well in training, he wouldn't say there was an obvious worst one, and they all seem to work well with the dragons. They can do this, he tells himself, they've got this. He clears his throat, gaining the attention of the Viking-trainees and dragons alike. "Everyone's clear on the plan?" He asks, but proceeds to tell it again anyways, "We fly to dragon island, don't worry about directions, the dragons will do the flying themselves. We help the Vikings out, alright? We don't want any unnecessary deaths." He cringes at the word, but continues, "Stay away from them though, we don't know how they'll respond to the dragons. Just deal with the queen, and don't get hurt."

"Yeah, we got it, Hiccup," Snotlout interrupts, although he's smiling. He jumps on the Nightmare, causing everyone to do the same, "Let's do this guys!"

Astrid holds out her hand to pull Hiccup onto the Nadder's back. He remembers when the roles were reversed, and they went on the romantic flight. Never in a million years did he think this was how things were going to turn out. He smiles, climbing on the dragon's back, and they're off.

Snotlout feels more comfortable on a dragon's back this time around. Maybe it's because he's bonded with the dragon before hand. Maybe it's because he knows where they're going this time. Maybe it's because of the adrenaline rush he's getting, flying into battle. And maybe it's because he's stopped fearing a beating. He smiles. This is definitely much better.


	25. Part 4 - Chapter 25

Part 4 – Chapter 25

They quickly arrive at dragon island. The villagers of Berk are in shock. Are those the trainees, riding on dragons? Some are outraged. How much treachery will happen today? But for the others, the little voice in the back of their minds are saying that maybe, maybe, Hiccup might be right about the dragons.

Hiccup does his best to ignore the looks. He really doesn't want to see their faces of anger and disappointment, he knows that he can't handle it right now. So, he focuses his attention on the new dragon riders. "Fishlegs," he calls out to the dragon-intelligence gifted boy, "Break it down for us."

Fishlegs goes into the stats about the dragon, and Hiccup formulates a plan from it. He has the Twins irritating the dragon, and Fishlegs and Snotlout making noise. He doesn't know how much it will do, but he hopes it prevents it from doing much while he and Astrid find Toothless. Who is on a burning boat, Hiccup notices. He swears silently, and hopes that he'll be okay. Astrid drops him off the boat, and he's pulling the muzzle off when a flaming beam hits the deck, sinking the ship with Hiccup and a chained up Toothless on it.

Snotlout caught a flash of what was going on in the back of his mind. He instantly starts panicking, especially when the boy and the dragon don't immediately pop up out of the water. He starts worrying that everything he's done that has led up to this moment may have been for nothing when he sees Stoick dive in after his son. Snotlout sighs in relief, and goes back to his assignment. He can't fail Hiccup now, so for Thor's sake, he is going to make as much noise as this world can handle.

Stoick throws his son onto the shore, not even pausing to catch his breath before diving back in to save the dragon. Using the sound of Hiccup's feeble coughing just as he hit the water as his mantra, he swims down back to the beast – Toothless, he corrects himself – he swims back down to Toothless. A moment passes as the man and dragon share eye contact. Mutual agreement passes through them. For the boy, they're doing this for the boy. Stoick rips the wood and chain collar from the Night Fury, and in return, Toothless launches himself and the chief from their position at the bottom of the bay, quickly resurfacing. Hiccup jumps onto his friend's back, and is about to join his peers in battle, but Stoick stops him. He has to say this now, when he means it most. He can't chicken out, "Hiccup," he says, with all the clarity and remorse he can muster, "I-I'm sorry."

"I am too, dad," Hiccup responds, and he is. He never wanted things to turn out this way. Stoick says his line, and the whole, I'm proud to be your dad thing, and then, y'know, you don't have to go out there. Then Hiccup says, "We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard," because for the love of Thor, he is a Viking, alright? He's a Viking who can't help but see the good, and he can't help but understand why it's there. And he never meant for things to turn out this way, but they have, and now it's time to deal with it. He's no coward, he realizes now, no matter what they've always said, he's not a coward. He's going to fix this mess. And he doesn't have to do it alone.

Hiccup nods at his father, more mutual understanding, yay, and he and Toothless shoot into the air. "He's up!" Astrid and Snotlout cry out at the same time. They glance at each other, acknowledging the kinship either of them have with Hiccup, and smile, in a sort of comradery type of way. This, however, distracts Snotlout from his disoriented Nightmare, who falls from the air while he falls onto the Red Death. Fishlegs and the Gronkle fall too, crashing into the pebbles below. Hiccup notices this and holds back a laugh – classic Snotlout – and asks the Twins to get him out of there. In some weird ninja, physics-defying way, it happens. Astrid is about the get sucked up by the Death, but Hiccup swoops in and saves her. Astrid briefly acknowledges that she likes that before brushing it away. Hiccup calls for them to regroup.

They fly somewhat lazily, well, as lazily as you can around a 100-foot-tall fire-breathing lizard, and they discuss their game plan. "The thing has wings," Hiccup explains, "But I don't know if he can use them." Hiccup goes on to tell them that he wants it in the air. It's been stuck in that mountain for who knows how long, so it probably won't be the best at quick movements. So, they all start attacking the Red Death, firing repeatedly until it stood up and eventually flew. Hiccup and Toothless had the dragon chase them around some sea stacks, which the Red Death quickly destroyed. When possible, the teens got some blasts in at the wings, but the real magic happened when Hiccup and Toothless took the clouds, the Red Death on it's heels. A Night Fury is at home in the dark, and Toothless had several well placed plasma blasts to the wings, starting some new holes in the membrane, and opening up other smaller ones. Then, when the Red Death could clearly see them, they dove. The Red Death was right behind them, building up gas in it's mouth, ready to obliterate them all when.

Bang.

Plasma blast to the mouth. Straight into the gas. Instant fire in the mouth. Hiccup and Toothless swiftly moved out of the way. An explosion on contact with the ground. The blast wave knocked the dragon and rider back. Hiccup then realized that Toothless' artificial tail wasn't working. It wasn't there. Had been burned sometime in the last few minutes. No control, and a mighty bludgeon of a tail was quickly approaching. Knocked Hiccup off of Toothless. Hiccup fell unconsciously into the blaze. Toothless dove after him. Toothless grabbed Hiccup's leg in a desperate attempt to save his best friend. Toothless hit the ground with his rider in tow. The dragon's legs and wings reflexively wrapped around the boy. Toothless tried to ignore the taste of blood that had filled his mouth.


	26. Part 5 - Chapter 26

**Part 5: Strong Souls**

 **"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."**

 **-Khalil Gibran**

Part 5 – Chapter 26

Snotlout wasn't fully aware that he was running into the flames. He did know that he wanted to save Hiccup. He didn't know how, planning wasn't really his forte. He knew that the tribe wouldn't really miss him if he was gone, but they sure would miss Hiccup, especially now that they knew about the dragons. Snotlout didn't know that running into the explosion would surely kill, or at least maim him. He just knew that falling into the fire must be worse. He didn't know that Hiccup was actually okay. He just wanted to help, somehow. He didn't know that he tripped. He didn't know that he had fallen onto the burning metal of Toothless' tail. He didn't know that he was so close to his cousin, but still too far to be of any good. He didn't know that he immediately keeled over from the searing hot pain shooting his arm, caused by the metal. He didn't know that some of the skin didn't come with him. He didn't know that he fainted. He didn't know. He just knew that Hiccup was worth it.

Stoick ran after his son soon after Snotlout had. He feared the worst when he saw his nephew unconscious by a seemingly dead dragon, with his son nowhere to be found. But Toothless moved, that was good. And Stoick and Toothless made that eye contact again, that mutual understanding that everything would be fine. Toothless unfurled his wings, revealing the boy, barely there but still breathing. Stoick fell to his knees, his legs refusing to work. He hugged his son tight to him. "He's alive, you brought him back alive!" Stoick exclaimed, trying to recall a moment he had felt more relieved, but falling short. "Thank you," he whispered to the dragon.

Gobber came up behind his friend, sucking in a harsh breath at the sight of Hiccup's leg, or what used to be. Stoick turned to the older man, "he needs to go back to Berk now."

Astrid pushed to the front of the crowd. She had seen the explosion, but not much else. She saw the fur of Stoick's cloak. Why couldn't she see anything else? Tears began to fill her eyes as she feared the worst, but then she heard those marvelous words, "He's alive." Gobber moved towards the chief, and Astrid couldn't stop herself from doing the same. "He needs to go back to Berk now," Stoick muttered.

Astrid coughed, marking her presence. "I can take him, on the Nadder." She glanced over at the other boy, just coming to a few feet away, "I think Snotlout should come too." Her words surprised her. Years of persistent badgering, of constant annoyance, he surely didn't deserve her kindness. But her words still yet had made sense, over the past few hours, she got a glimpse of who Snotlout really was. He wasn't that bad. Stoick and Gobber rushed Hiccup over to what was left of their ships, to try and find any bandages that could stop the bleeding until they made it back to Berk.

Snotlout woke up with a huge headache, but more importantly, a burning sensation in his forearm. He looked down at the glaring burn, and nearly yelped at how violent it looked. Three bright pink openings, parallel to each other, with blood oozing from the raw flesh. Around it, in stark contrast, a mean black, and the skin was flaking. Further out, it was an angry red. In other words, not that nice. Astrid noticed Snotlout's shock at his wounds, "Yeah," she half-laughed, walking a few paces closer, "you fell on Toothless' tail, I guess. We'll get that checked out." Snotlout couldn't find words, and the screaming pain in his arm certainly didn't help, "We have to get Hiccup back to Berk as soon as possible anyways. He'll be fine, hopefully," she explained, "but, uh, things aren't looking too well." Snotlout wordlessly nodded, eyes open wide. What was wrong with Hiccup?

Astrid walked over to where they were tending to Hiccup, Snotlout trailing behind her, not entirely sure how to hold his arm, which was causing his vision to go in and out of focus. But when he saw Hiccup, or more importantly, what he didn't see of Hiccup, made him lose feeling of everything. "H-his leg?" Snotlout whispered, not even paying attention to the fact that he never stutters.

"Yeah," Astrid mumbles, before turning to the other Vikings, "is he ready to go?" They nod, and Astrid calls the Nadder over. The Nightmare follows. Astrid and Snotlout climb onto their dragons, and Stoick hands Hiccup off to Astrid. "Be careful," Stoick warns her, "I couldn't bare losing him." His voice is just above a whisper, and only Astrid hears. She nods solemnly, and she and Snotlout take to the sky.


	27. Part 5 - Chapter 27

Part 5 – Chapter 27

The ride back is quiet. The adrenaline of seeing Hiccup without his leg wears off, and Snotlout's pain comes back like you fall asleep – slowly at first, then all at once. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Snotlout is able to stifle some whimpers, but he can't help but ask, "how much longer until we get there?"

Astrid had been in a daze, her mind going into all sorts of dark places. What if Hiccup doesn't make it? What if when he dies, they all decide that they still want to fight against the dragons? What if she and the other teens get punished for training some dragons? Snotlout's words break her from the trance, and she's suddenly very cross. "Of course you'd be complaining! Hiccup might die here, but oh, your arm is hurting! Poor little you! How will you live?" A silent tear drops down her face, and she looks away.

Snotlout is taken aback by her words. He realized that Hiccup would not have a leg anymore, but, could he really die? He didn't know! And he's being so concerned about his arm. "I'm sorry," he mutters, "that was really stupid of me."

Astrid wants to shoot back a retort, but she doesn't trust herself to open her mouth and for a sob not to come out. So she nods, mutely. And that's how they spend the rest of the flight back. Mute.

Back on dragon island, things are very sullen. No one dares speak, and disturb the chief who is most definitely having a hard time right now. But Spitelout has always thought of himself to be braver than most men, and he walks over to Stoick, and clears his throat, gaining his older brother's attention. "So, Stoick, what's the plan?"

Stoick feels anger rise up in him, but he's honestly too exhausted to do much with it. "Take them to the other side of the island. Scout for resources," he mumbles, "Have some men repair a boat so that I and a few others can go back. We'll have to do it in trips. You keep in charge while I'm at Berk."

Spitelout nods, content with his role as acting chief once Stoick leaves. "And what of the other dragons," he asks coolly. "Leave them on the island," Spitelout expects Stoick to say, but that is not the case.

"Ah, send them and the riders out to Berk, they can send back more ships." Spitelout flares with anger, but decides to keep his cool. If Stoick saw him angry, then what's keeping him from electing someone else to be in charge?


	28. Part 5 - Chapter 28

Part 5 – Chapter 28

Astrid, Snotlout, and Hiccup shortly arrive at Berk, and quickly hurry to Gothi's hut. They run up the multiple stairs, Snotlout cursing under his breath the entire time. Gothi takes one look at Hiccup's leg, and quickly gets to work, having Astrid set him down on a bed, and gathering some herbs. Astrid and Snotlout watch nervously from aside. Gothi's almost done patching up his leg, and wrapping the bandages when she goes to finally shoo them away, but then she catches sight of Snotlout's arm. She finishes wrapping Hiccup's leg with a flourish, and gestures for Snotlout to step forward. Snotlout is shocked by this, and tries to deny the help. Astrid is confused, "Snotlout, get your arm checked out."

"No," Snotlout argues, "it's fine, I'll be fine. Besides, shouldn't you be worrying about Hiccup?"

Astrid shakes her head, "Hiccup will be fine, right?" She turns to Gothi, who nods in confirmation. "See? But the question is, will you be okay?"

Snotlout would be angry if he weren't so nervous, "Well, the answer is yeah, I will be okay. Why shouldn't I be?"

Astrid shakes her head in confusion. Is he serious? She's about to argue further, when Gothi grabs his good arm, and pulls him over to a nearby chair, and gathers some medicine. Snotlout doesn't know whether or not he should fight off the elder. Probably not, that's not a fair fight, but he doesn't need to be healed! He's fine. Medicine is for the weak, that was a saying, right? But he decided not to push the topic any further. His arm really was hurting. He just tried to not to cry out too loudly when the medicines Gothi applied started to burn.


	29. Part 5 - Chapters 29 and 30

Part 5 – Chapter 29 and 30

 **Chapter 29:** Dream Sequence for Hiccup – Something with the dragons being fought, and them dying, with a woman's voice ringing in the background, some line that Valka says in a HTTYD2 flashback.

The Twins and Fishlegs come back, and send some ships out

Stoick and some other Vikings come back, with Toothless

Stoick and Toothless go to greet Hiccup. Snotlout has been staying with Hiccup, with Astrid coming every once and a while. Snotlout usually goes and does stuff with the Nightmare during that time. He decides to call it Hookfang.

 **Chapter 26:** Another Dream Sequence for Hiccup – Him kneeling around some dead dragons, repeating the line that his mother said, and then he comes across an egg.

Stoick's out at the Great Hall for a bit, having a meeting with some of the elders about what happened on Dragon Island. Snotlout is hanging around the house, and Astrid comes in. Snotlout mutters something about, "I'll give you some time with him," but she grabs him by the arm, careful to avoid his bandages. They have a heart to heart, about how she's sorry about being so mean to him for all those years. She just didn't like him like that, but she could have handled the situation much more maturely. Snotlout apologizes for being such a jerk, he should've realized that she didn't like him a long time ago, but he didn't really want to admit it. They decide to treat each other like friends, and if they can't do that, than at least like comrades. They both went through similar situations with Hiccup. They look over at his comatose body for a moment. One of them mutters, when do you think he'll wake up? The other shakes their head, not wanting to admit that he might not.

Cut back to Dragon Island, where Spitelout and most of the Vikings are. The boats are just pulling in, and Spitelout is quite enjoying his job of delegating their every move, and he savours this moment. They all pile into the ships, and pull off.

Dragons slowly start coming back to Berk, and the Vikings their try training them themselves, of course, with the help of the teens. Stoick is able to convince Snotlout to get out of the house and lead some lessons (like when he's leading some sort of flying lesson when Hiccup wakes up in the movie.) Astrid helps out too.


	30. Part 5 - Chapter 31

Part 5 – Chapter 31

Dream sequence – the egg hatches. It's a mysterious dragon, but somehow familiar. And then Hiccup realizes, it's a baby Night Fury. Hiccup and the dragon interact for a moment, and are walking/flying when they come across two groups, one of the Vikings, and one of the dragons.

The ships come back, and Snotlout does his best to avoid his father. Astrid notices this, and sits down with him in the Great Hall. Snotlout admits that Spitelout disowned him when he stood up for Hiccup before they left for the island, but doesn't say anything else. Astrid points out that after everyone's job with the Red Death, she highly doubts that Spitelout wouldn't go back on the whole disowning thing. Snotlout argues that Spitelout has no problem with finding faults in good things. Astrid asks what he means, but Snotlout storms out.

That night, Snotlout is sitting by Hiccup's bed. He can't fall asleep (he's been sleeping by the bed all this time.) He starts talking out loud, to Hiccup, to himself, no one knows. Snotlout talks about his father, all that Spitelout did, how he talked to Astrid about it for a bit, oh Thor, he hopes that wasn't a mistake. Once he's finished, he realizes how good it was to say it out loud. And he smiles, remembering that his father disowned him. A Jorgenson never goes back on his word, and now Snotlout won't have to deal with his abusive father anymore.


	31. Part 6 - Chapter 32

**Part 6: Distinguished**

 **"Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them."**

 **-William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night**

Part 6 – Chapter 32

Dream sequence – The baby dragon curiously looks at Hiccup, as if asking which to choose. Before Hiccup can even open his mouth, the dragons start fighting each other. Bigger ones are eating smaller ones, and smaller ones are pecking at the bigger ones. The baby dragon backs away, and moves towards the Vikings, but they too start fighting each other, slapping, punching, swordfighting, calling out insults, and everyone screaming. The baby dragon retreats, scared, and Hiccup doesn't know what to do. Then, the dragons and the Vikings look over at each other. Hiccup blocks the Night Fury's eyes, and runs away, not wanting the baby to see the war that would inevitably break out.

The next day, Snotlout and Astrid are teaching a class, and Stoick is out running an errand for a moment, when Hiccup wakes up. Pretty much the same scene as in the movie, but Hiccup is in more shock about his leg. When Hiccup gets outside, he's swarmed, Stoick and Gobber talk to him first. Snotlout and Astrid punch his arms at the same time. Snotlout realizes this, and gestures a 'you first' to Astrid, but Astrid reciprocates. They laugh, and Astrid goes first, her and Hiccup have their moment (I imagine the twins catcalling), and then they and the teens go on the flight. Snotlout fills in Hiccup on what's been going on, with Astrid continually butting in, Fishlegs calling out dragon facts whenever possible, and the Twins bickering over who can show Hiccup their coolest flying trick. When they finally touch down on the ground, the others disperse, and Hiccup asks Snotlout about his arm. Snotlout answers quickly about falling onto Toothless' tail after running into the explosion after him, "Apparently, you're not supposed to touch hot metal?" "Snotlout I've been trying to tell you that for years! How often do you go the forge, and make some sort of mess?" "Ah, shut up, Hiccup. I've never lost my leg." The two boys are silent after a moment, taking in the words. Finally, Hiccup mutters out a tiny, "My leg gets to leave this heap of wet rock and doesn't take me with it. Rude." They both laugh nervously, and Snotlout builds on the joke cautiously, "And it went somewhere hot, too." Hiccup fake-winces at that, "Too soon, Snotlout, that's pretty much as soon as you ran into a friggin' explosion." Snotlout guffaws at that one, and they're now joking like nothing bad has ever happened.

At one point they get serious again, Snotlout explains that he's fine with Astrid not liking him anymore, and instead liking *fake retching* ugh, Hiccup. Hiccup laughs, and thanks his cousin for that. Snotlout complains that he doesn't know who he'll end up marrying now. Ruffnut? He doesn't even know which one that is. Hiccup laughs, but then says, "But Snotlout," and looks out at the horizon dramatically, "with dragons on the backs of dragons, the world just got a whole lot bigger."

They boys then realize how far away from the village they strayed, and that the sun is already beginning to set. They hop on their dragons, who had been playing with a tree a couple meters away, and ride back to Berk. When they get there, they're immediately greeted by cheering. A feast has been set up in the Great Hall in honor of Hiccup. Hiccup is very bashful about the whole thing, and tries to refuse a couple of compliments, but Snotlout doesn't let that happen. Hiccup (and Snotlout) go and sit at the front table, and Stoick makes a short speech. He explains that after Hiccup's performance on his final test, Stoick had had him banished, but he has since realized his wrongs, and has now been reaccepted into Berk. This gets many cheers. Hiccup wants to crawl under the table.

They've just started eating when Spitelout approaches Snotlout. "Snotlout, I've decided that I will allow you back into my household."


	32. Part 6 - Chapter 33

Part 6 – Chapter 33

Spitelout is continuing his spiel, but Snotlout interrupts him with a firm, "No." Spitelout is taken aback, and Snotlout repeats himself, "No, I will never be your son again." Stoick is confused, and asks Snotlout why he's asking this way. Snotlout hesitates for a moment, before tentatively mumbling, "Because he beats me."

The Hall is silent, everyone listening to what is happening. "He what?" Stoick roars, outraged that his own brother would do such a thing to his nephew, "Spitelout, is this true?" Spitelout spits out a no, right as Snotlout defiantly yells out, yes. Snotlout, now running off of adrenaline, lifts up his shirt, to reveal a fine array of bruises, cuts, and little discoloured bits covering his torso. There are gasps all around the Hall, and Stoick has to gather himself for a moment before making his commands, "Put Spitelout into the jail until he can have a trial. Gothi, attend to Snotlout, immediately. He'll be staying in my house until further notice."

Spitelout leaps at Snotlout, his hands inches from his throat, shaking with his indecision. He puts them down, and refrains from whispering a threat. He's done too much already. Two men come and escort Spitelout out of the Hall, and Gothi comes for Snotlout. Snotlout wants to resist, but realizes he would only look stupid now, and marches out of the Hall with his head down.

Hiccup tries to eat more, but eventually gives up, and excuses himself. He leaves unnoticed; the partying has gone back into full swing, and a slightly drunken song has already filled the air. Hiccup barely makes it down the steps when he hears Astrid clear her throat. Hiccup is slightly annoyed that he was interrupted, but the thought of the kiss earlier balances things out. Hiccup raises his eyebrows in question, too exhausted from the days events to talk at the moment. Astrid smiles, "where are you off to?" She asks. Hiccup answers that he's going to go check on Snotlout. He admits that he had no idea. Astrid agrees, then offers to walk him over, because he's been limping. ("Don't I have a dragon?" "Yeah, I think I saw Silent Sven challenging him to a duel." "Oh for Thor's sake.") Hiccup notices the throbbing pain in his leg, that had been ignored in the heat of the moment. He thanks her, and they walk over to the hut. The stairs are a bit tricky, but they accomplish them, albeit taking a lot longer than usual, and Astrid bids him goodnight. [Somewhere in there, I'd like a little heart-to-heart about how Astrid had always liked him, but never allowed herself to express those feelings because of the situation. I think's okay if Hiccup gets hurt by this a little bit, but if Astrid feels hurt to, like, beating herself up and insisting that he deserves better than her, then Hiccup can say that he does, but he chooses her, or that true, but she also deserves better than him, I dunno.] Hiccup tentatively knocks on the door, and after a moment of scuffling on the other side, Gothi opens it, gesturing for him to come in.

Hiccup and Snotlout talk for a moment, Hiccup remarking that he had no idea, and Snotlout admitting that no one did. Gothi shoos Hiccup away, so that she can finish with his cousin. Hiccup sits on a nearby chair, unsure of whether or not he should say something. But Gothi quickly finishes, gives Snotlout some herbs to make into a tea, gets some for Hiccup as well, and they go on their way.


	33. Part 6 - Chapter 34

Part 6 – Chapter 34

Chapter 30: (Note: For the chapter about Spitelout's trial, I should briefly explain the Trial by Fire, or whatever it's called in the Author's Note)

The next week or so goes by quickly. There's a lot of medicating, especially for Hiccup, they lead some dragon training classes, Hiccup is very impressed, and of course, there's all the Spitelout drama. Snotlout refused to go to the first ordeal, but after some persuading on the end of Hiccup, he agreed on the terms that he can leave whenever he wants. Snotlout has to admit though, it was nice to see his father hold the burning metal rod for a solid minute. It was slightly therapeutic, even, to see the man who had caused him so much pain go through some himself. Although Snotlout hated the look of death his father would not stop giving him. After Spitelout had held the rod, his hands were dressed, and he was thrown in the jail for another week. Snotlout couldn't sleep for most of that week. He kept worrying that Spitelout's hands wouldn't infect, and that he'd be forced to live with his father again. And then Spitelout would only be angrier. Would he be able to convince Stoick to hold another trial? But what if it's really his fault? The night before the final trial, Snotlout had been pacing, trying to rid himself of the thoughts when he stubbed his toe on the wall, and yelped in pain. Hiccup woke up, and asked Snotlout what the heck he was doing in the middle of the night. Snotlout explained what he was feeling. Now, a groggy Hiccup is not a very considerate Hiccup, but he had the sense to let Snotlout sleep his bed for the night, and Hiccup would take the floor. Once they had gotten settled, Hiccup mumbled that even if Spitelout was proven innocent by the Trial, he'd probably still be banished. Hiccup explained that everyone hates his father. Snotlout was shocked, but giddy too, "really?" "Yeah, and if you don't shut up and go to sleep, I'll start thinking it runs in the family." Snotlout snorted, "we're related you idiot." Hiccup tiredly laughed, and they went silent, presumably falling asleep. But then Snotlout spoke up, "people don't actually hate me, right? Because of him?" Hiccup sighed silently, giving up on sleeping anymore that night, and sat on the foot of the bed. "No, if anything, they'll respect you even more for living with that monster." Snotlout smiled, regaining some of his cocky spirit, "Yeah, I am pretty brave, aren't I?" "Yup," Hiccup half-laughed, half-yawned, "Isn't it great you're so humble about it?" Snotlout sniggered, "Okay, Hiccup, I'll let you get your precious beauty sleep now." Hiccup clambered off the bed, muttering, "I need it, y'know. Don't wanna end up looking like you." Snotlout fake pouted, and promptly threw a pillow at his cousin's head.

The trial happened the next morning bright and early. First, they checked Spitelout's bandages. Snotlout openly smiled at the word that his father's hands had been infected. Then Stoick and the rest of the tribe's elders gathered for the Thing. Stoick went into the Thing, hard-headed, ready to banish his brother. A part of him always knew that Spitelout was trying to get himself more power, and him using Snotlout was an extension of this. Spitelout had proved himself to be an evil man. He didn't know that Spitelout had been beating Snotlout, but he wasn't going to let him continue. The rest of the elders agreed. The evidence, Snotlout's marks, and the infected hands were more than enough to convict him.

Snotlout was overjoyed to hear that his father had been banished. For the safety of Snotlout, they decided that Spitelout was to be sent off of the island, immediately. Several men and women took Spitelout to the docks, and prepared the boats to send him on his way. Stoick approached Snotlout after the trial, and offered to take in Snotlout. Stoick explained that he understood if Snotlout wanted to stay in the house or not, and that the offer will always stand. Snotlout grinned, and said that the offer could take a seat, because he accepted. Stoick grinned, and told Hiccup to say hi to his new brother. Hiccup chuckled, and said "hi" as shyly as he could. Stoick nodded happily, and went to oversee the preparations of Spitelout's boat. Hiccup asked if Snotlout wanted to see his father off, but Snotlout politely declined. They went off on their way. Astrid jogged up to the two, and congratulated Snotlout. Snotlout said that Astrid should instead be wishing Hiccup luck, because they were brothers now. "Oh no," Astrid lamented jokingly. "Oh no, indeed," Hiccup agreed, sarcastically.

And then it ends like the ending of A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons(?) with the three friends walking off into the sunset.


	34. Epilogue

**Epilogue:**

"Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak." -Thomas Carlyle

Strong souls are never born, but rather made, and this story was that of three souls who were strengthened: the hero that earned their title, the rebel with a cause, and the one who was defiant in spite of all else.

Astrid was born to be a shield-maiden, a warrior, the heroine of Berk. But she earned her title, in taking the harder, but in the end, better path in trusting in Hiccup and the Dragons when her people were at war.

Snotlout was the rebel with the cause of finally seeing that his father received what was due. He fought not only for his safety at home, but also for what was right for the island of Berk.

And Hiccup rose in defiance in spite of all those who doubted him, and brought peace to his war ridden land in a completely unexpected way.

These are strong souls.

 **AN: And that's the story! Thanks so much to everyone who continued reading this story, even after the chapters took their harsh decrease in quality (sorry about that). For the foreseeable future, this will be my last fanfiction, though I'll post somewhere if I do decide to come back from my hiatus. This story has taken a while, and definitely would not have finished if it weren't for my faithful readers, so again, I'd like to thank you all.**

 **-Gravity**


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